Criminal Minds
by bonkersfm
Summary: When Mulder starts profiling again, Scully mysteriously disappears. When she is discovered its a race against time to unravel the events that have taken place, to save the lives of others and salvage a relationship in the balance.  I live for feedback x
1. Chapter 1

**just a quick note to say that i am posting this as i write, otherwise i tend not to finish my stories! It is well planned but unbeta'd, any feedback is more than welcome xxx**

**Chapter 1 **

"I swear, to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. So help me God."

"Mr Mulder, you've worked hard for the prosecution in this case. You were drafted in as a profiler is that right?" Defence lawyer Sam Mortenson eyes him carefully, sizing up his opponent.

The man on the stand nodded, feeling suffocated, unaccustomed to the confines of a suit these days. He'd even cut his hair on the insistence of his common law wife, who knew the cameras would be rolling during this high profile case.

" And what conclusions did you come to Mr Mulder?"

He coughed before he began, carefully thinking over his words as he went. "I knew we were looking for a middle aged man, who knew the area. He would be a quiet man, unnoticeable until he flared up, volatile under pressure. He would have had an estranged relationship with his mother, if any real relationship at all. He might have been married before, although this most likely ended badly."

"I'm sure you know Mr Mulder that your profile had significant bearing on bringing Tony White to court…"

"There's the overwhelming physical evidence too, the evidence that places him at the scene and in those prostitutes…" Mulder interrupted, agitated that the defence would try to dismiss such evidence.

"We've heard Mr Whites testimony Mr Mulder. He states that this evidence is circumstantial and would not have been found without your _generalised _profile."

"Objection!" District Attorney Johnson stood at once. "If the defence is implying that the witness is not accredited in profiling then maybe he needs to…"

"Your honour, I am merely painting a fuller picture of the importance of incidental evidence in this case."

The judge eyed them both, unimpressed by the scene they were making in front of an audience of millions. He must call this right or be ridiculed. "Mr Mortenson, Mr Mulder's profiling skills are not being called into question here. Please proceed with care."

Mortenson held up his hand in defeat. He retreated, thinking carefully about his next line of enquiry. "Mr Mulder, isn't it true that whilst your profile may be absolutely correct, that it applies to millions of men throughout America? Would it also be the profile of the majority of men who visit prostitutes?"

"It could be," He remained calm this time, sure of his answer with which to return fire, "although the semen of millions of men was not found at the crime scenes. Millions of men's skin was not found underneath the fingernails of two of those murdered women."

District Attorney was no slouch when it came to tequila. Five, six nearly seven shots lined up in front of Mulder and suddenly the room seemed so much smaller. Mulder had lived a solitary life even before he and Scully had moved to Virginia, keeping to his small circle of friends and rarely drinking with groups of colleagues. These were men's men, celebrating six months of painstaking investigation when finally they had called upon Mulder to get inside Tony White's head. He had been surprised to be called as a witness, even more so when it was the defence who wanted him, merely to rip him apart. They hadn't done their homework that well, no mention of spooky Mulder anywhere. Televisions blared in the background, flashing images of outside the courthouse that day that had started too early and now finished too late. He sat a little away from the others, closed his eyes and allowing Johnson's distant voice to wash over him, half listening to his past exploits and half letting his mind wander onto better things. Speaking of which, he saw through half closed eyes a much better thing just walked through the door and made her way toward him.

"I was about to give up on you." He reached his hand forward to take hers. "Its past eleven you know."

"Well I could leave you here?" She answered, picking up the empty tequila shot glass. "With your buddies?" She had watched much of the case previous to Mulder's testimony and held apprehensions about his appearance. The selfish part of her liked the anonymity they had in Virginia. Going on TV seemed, to her at least, to make them vulnerable again to the monsters of the dark that would surely come intruding into their lives before too long. The not so selfish part of her was relieved that Mulder had something else to do. His socialisation had been severely limited during their first few years here, but now with his profiling for Skinner and connections with VCU his brain seemed sated again.

"How did you know where I was?" His eyes felt heavy once more, as if weights pressed upon the lids, relieving the fatigue when he gave in.

"I called at Johnson's office. Apparently they come here after every case they win."

"Hey buddy." Johnson stepped up behind Scully, getting Mulder's attention. "If it's women you want there are much better places then this we can go."

Mulder laughed snaking an arm around her waist. "District Attorney Johnson this is my wife Dana Scully."

Now Johnson looked embarrassed. He held out a hand to Scully. "Apologies ma'am, I don't recall seeing a wedding band I just presumed…"

"Oh we're not married." She interrupted, giving Mulder the playful look she usually reserved for just them. Johnson looked confused now, and quickly offered to buy her a drink. She refused, explaining that she had merely come to pick up her TV star husband before he ran off with Gill from channel six weather.

The location of the trial had meant an early morning commute and a one-night stay over, courtesy of New York City. "How did you manage to swing the day off with Father Y'bara?" Mulder asked, flopping down on the bed, exaggerating his fatigue somewhat. Scully, who had been emptying vanity products from her purse, gave a confused look.

"I haven't," she replied. "We need to leave here in about eight hours so that I can get back for the late shift."

"Graveyard?" He felt disappointed. She didn't often have to do the night shift, but when she did he often ended up sleeping on the sofa and catching the zee's when she returned. Beds were for two people.

"Don't call it that…" she replied "It was the only way I could get down here to see you. I have two more to do too, kind of a penance for last minute time off." She stripped down to her underwear and lay down beside him on top of the covers.

"The things you do for the ones you love huh?" He said, leaning over and tugging at the waistband of the boxers she wore. She rolled her eyes and flipped back the covers, sliding underneath.

"I'm afraid that's about all I do for the one I love tonight." She cupped his cheek with her hand and held his face still for a goodnight kiss. "You did good today Mulder, they'd have never found him if it weren't for you." He closed his eyes momentarily, before getting under the covers and wrapping himself around her in gratitude of the sacrifice she had made to be with him. To others it would seem a futile journey for the sake of a free night in the city, but he knew the real reason why she had driven six hours to be with him, sacrificing two of her nights away from work. She'd done it to make sure he was okay. She knew how Tony White had crawled into his brain and etched a permanent reminder in the form of mutilated bodies. He tightened his grip around her waist, pulling her towards him.

"Thank you." He whispered, closing his eyes and revelling in the acknowledgement that came when a hand reached up to clasp his.


	2. Chapter 2

**just a quick note to say that i am posting this as i write, otherwise i tend not to finish my stories! It is well planned but unbeta'd, any feedback is more than welcome xxx**

Chapter 2

He looked at the clock for what seemed like the hundredth time that night. It was three in the morning, only three hours before he would pick Scully up from work, return home for a hearty breakfast come dinner, then off to bed a few hours, more than a few if he were really lucky. Life had been pretty good over the last couple years for him. He no longer led a solitary existence. He profiled when asked, which had become a frequent occurrence after he'd wrapped up the first couple of cases they'd thrown at him in less time then it had taken the lead investigators to put their dicks away. Scully still worked at the hospital, even though he'd voiced the fact several times that she didn't need to do the hours she used to. She'd been his only link to the outside world for months when they first moved in and although he'd been happy to make her his world, she'd needed more. He sat now in front of his computer, scanning the usual junk that littered his inbox, not all unwelcome. About half way down the list, Skinner's name stood out

"Mulder you missed the exit." Scully sleepily tapped against the window, stifling the same yawn that had threatened whilst speaking to Y'bara about the annual account review. When his expression remained unaltered, she turned in her seat to face him. "Mulder where are we going?"

"Your not back at work until tomorrow morning are you?" He answered, voice giving nothing away.

"Yeah that right, the other night shift isn't until next week." She sat back in her chair; the reminder of a whole day and night off was some comfort.

After another ten minutes she recognised exactly where they were. "Mulder no, I've just finished work you cant possibly think…"

He steered the car onto the sidewalk and brought it to a halt. Flashing the grin he new would get him out of trouble, he quickly exited the vehicle.

"I just want you to take a quick look Scully. We can be in and out in ten minutes."

"Ten minutes?" she wearily climbed out of the passenger side, meeting his eyes over the top of the car. "You really no how to show a girl a good time."

"Okay run this by me again Mulder, my sleep starved brain is having trouble taking it in." Yawned Scully.

"There's nothing to run by you Scully. I just want you to take a look."

"What am I supposed to be looking for?"

"Er, cause of death?"

"You know what I mean Mulder. Tell me what makes this so special?"

"What and spoil the surprise? Just take a look and tell me what you think."

She went over to the table and pulled back the sheet to reveal a young woman, probably fewer than thirty years old. "She's been dead for a long time I can tell you that. The body is cold but not stiff as it would be if this was a fresh body. She was hung." she put gentle latex fingers on the skin of her neck. "There are deep grooves in the neck caused by a strong rope and the tongue is dark purple. I'd need a tox screen to tell me if the victim had been subdued with alcohol, I mean, she is a victim right?"

"Oh yeah, one way or the other."

It had seemed strange having dinner at eight in the morning, even stranger to be kissing your wife good night when breakfast news came on. Now Mulder sat at the kitchen table, photos and case files spread in front of him, concentrating hard until a knock came at the door. It was exactly who he expected and he welcomed his old assistant director in out of the cold. "You need to move nearer to DC Mulder. I'm not doing this journey every time we need your help." The older man moved into the kitchen, shrugging off his overcoat and hanging it on the coat stand, then turned and smiled, taking the seriousness out of the moment.

"Hey, the FBI spent eight years trying to get me out of their hair, I thought the move might have been appreciated."

"Yeah, well this is appreciated. My guys have turned up nothing so far, and I'm under serious pressure from the Director to make a statement. What did Scully think?"

"I haven't spoken to her about it yet. She saw the body but I didn't want to push things when she'd been at work all day."

"That never used to stop you." Scully appeared in the kitchen doorway, dressed in sweats and a tight halter top that she might not have chosen to wear had she known her old boss had been visiting.

As they all sat around the large dining table, Scully skimmed through the pathology report. "Okay…" she put the file back into the middle of the table. "What connection do these women have with the body we saw at the morgue this morning?"

"You'd think none?" Skinner answered.

"These women were electrocuted. You can see the burn marks and the unusual cell mutation around the point of impact. Alicer Homer was hung. These women were sexually assaulted with signs of grievous bodily harm. I don't have the full report for Miss Homer but I couldn't see any signs of violence."

"But what about the boxes?" Skinner started to shift the files around, hunting for this next clue.

"Boxes? Mulder didn't…" she stopped in her tracks. "Mulder quit playing games and give me the connection between these women."

He moved behind her and leaned over, putting a startling image before her eyes. "This is how the women were found, all of them. In a tiny box." She stared at the photographs showing a very narrow box, not dissimilar to a coffin.

"I'm glad Mulder thinks we have games to play.." Skinner seemed aggravated now.

"I didn't give Scully the connection for a reason." Mulder took a seat again. "The fact that a forensic pathologist found no connection between this victim and the others, suggests to me that this was the first."

"Alice Homer was not the first to go missing…"

"That we know of." Mulder interjected. "Scully these are the details that the FBI provided."

She took the timeline from his hand, feeling like the catch up kid at school. "It says here that the first victim was a woman named Sally rays. She went missing in august 2008. Then there was Alice Homer…"

"The woman you saw this morning…"Mulder interrupted.

"She went missing in September 2009…"

"Yeah then lastly there was Ellen Fairview. She was last seen new years eve 2009." She could feel the excitement radiating from him as he took the file back out of her hand.

"How can Alice Homer be the first victim Mulder? She was still alive when Sally Rays went missing?"

"That's the billion dollar question Scully and when we can answer that, we got ourselves a break."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

She dreamed. Not the nightmares of years gone by, of the Donnie Phasters, Gerald Schnauzs and Leonard Betts, who sometimes still chased her down dark alleyways with no escape. This dream was of a boy, with thick dark hair and legs long for his age, the boy who swung a baseball bat and wanted the attention of his father and the love of his mother. In this world there was only sunshine and baseball, today and forever, Mulder and William. In this world she watched from a distance, as the game finished and the boy left his father and ran towards her. This was a world that always ended far too soon.

"When did you come down here?" She walked passed Mulder sitting at the kitchen table and poured herself a glass of water.

"Sorry, I couldn't sleep. I didn't want to do this in our bed." He motioned to the crime scene photographs. He glanced up at her now as she lowered herself into the seat next to him. He noticed the moisture in her eyes. "You have bad dream?"

"No, a good one." She replied. He put a hand up to her face and for a moment she closed her eyes, wanting to be back in that place for a little longer. No, she thought, don't go there, it'll only make it harder to leave. "What have you got?" She moved her face away from him. He stared at her for a moment longer.

"Not much right now. We'll know more when we have the toxicology report that you ordered. I've told Skinner I can start to profile…maybe hire some pathologist to look at the bodies again, give me her opinion…for a price…" He put his hand under the table and covered her bare knee with his hand, pulling at it until her eyes met his. She understood what he was trying to do and loved him for it. He knew her dreams and how the good ones left a mark filled with regret and pain.

"Well, I hear the rates for ex-pathologists might be a little more affordable for you." She leaned in to capture his lips, pulling away in time to be labelled a tease. "Should I wait up?"

"Yes, please." He let her go, watching her climb the stairs again. He re-read what he'd written more than half an hour ago.

What kind of man tortures his victims? A man who has had pain inflicted upon himself at some point.

What kind of man feels the need to contain his victim in a box? A man who wants power, but has none? Would explain the sexual assault.

What's the motive? Where's the opportunity? Who else could know?

He hated this part. It was almost worse than actually being inside the killer's head. This was the part where he tried to understand the sick fuck that did this to other human beings. He closed the file and headed upstairs.

He had dreams too. Dreams of demons storming their home, carrying them off into the night. Dreams he could never share with Scully, not ever. He ran the water in the bathroom a little, careful not to make noise in case she had fallen asleep. He splashed the water onto his face, a ritual he had begun again after Skinner had requested that he started profiling again. He relished the challenge, welcoming the feelings back that came from protecting the innocent from the monsters of this world. Even if it meant knowing the monster so well, that he became one.

He crept toward the bed and gently pulled back the covers. The moon shone through the tiny opening of the curtains to reveal the outline of her naked body. Shit, he'd missed the party. His body caused the mattress to move, stirring the other body back into reality. "Are you tired?" He asked her, as she rolled onto her stomach, propping herself up on sleepy limbs.

"Yeah, a little. Is that ok?"

"Yeah, its okay," he let out a quiet laugh. "Sorry I was so long."

She moved closer to him now, propping herself up on one elbow, letting the other hand stroke his chest.

"Is it harder than before? I mean before you left the VCU?". "I don't people have changed that much, if you can call them that. I guess I'd taken for granted how protected we'd become working on the X-files.". "Protected?"

"Well, yeah." He turned to lie on his side, facing her. "So many of the cases we investigated were so unique, sometimes so mythical that our jobs became romanticised. It isn't until you get back to reality that you realise there are hundreds of ordinary people doing awful things to each other... " He looked down now, unsure of whether to continue.

"What? What is it?"She pushed him.

"You ever wonder what keeps us this side of things?"

"You mean what keeps us from being the bad guys?"

" I mean, what keeps us from the slab?"

She didn't have a good answer for that one. She had always thought those who became cops believed themselves impervious to the opposition. But they weren't. How many agents had she known who'd been killed in the line of duty or hunted down by the very people they'd pursued? Her silence wasn't putting him at ease. "Is this conversation your way of persuading me to get you a big dog?" She tried to lighten him, but succeeded for mere seconds. She moved closer to him, wrapping a leg over his, pushing her sex against his. "I know what you're saying Mulder, but the world is just as full of monsters as it has always been. Anyway G-man, I know you'd never let anything happen to me."  
>She leaned toward him, gently taking his lips in hers, feeling his groin stirring against her.<p>

"I thought you were tired..." He mumbled into her mouth.

"Yeah, not so much now..."She smiled against him. He groaned into her, roughly pushing her onto her back and kicking the covers away from them. His hands held hers either side of her head, exposing her slim waist and ample breasts. "I love your body." He moaned, as his mouth latched onto a nipple, suckling until she began to moan underneath him. Her hands went to his hair that was soon out of reach as he descended her body, pulling her legs apart. She reached down and half heartedly pulled at his arm not really wanting him to stop but feeling as though it should be about him, not her. He jerked his arm away from her grasp and without looking up murmered, "Let me do this Scully." She drew her knees up as he began slowly dragging his tongue over the bundle of nerves that had started to swell. He was teasing now, knowing what he could be doing to start her orgasm straight away. He waited until she began to plead, reaching down to stroke his hair and guide him into place. Placing his hands on her thighs, he moved up, touching her clit with the very tip of his tongue, stealing a quick glance up to see her face flushed and eyes closed shut. He lowered his mouth over the tiny bud and began flicking with his tongue, getting harder and harder himself as she moaned and writhed beneath him. She began to gasp, bucking beneath him as he held her down and continued, getting harder as she continued to cry out. Her hand grasped his arm, pulling him up so that his hips lay at hers. Her hands went to his ass as she pulled him into her. He pushed, two, three times before entering her completely. She cried out, throwing her hand up onto his chest.

"You okay?" He asked, steadying himself, raising a hand to move the errant strand of strawberry blonde hair from her face.

"Yeah, God don't stop Mulder." The feel of her hand squeezing his ass was all the signal he needed. Burying his head into the crook of her shoulder, he began to pound into her, losing himself inside her. He was close. A situation not eased by the noises she was making underneath him.

"Oh God, Scully I'm coming. Oh God..."

Moving her hands to his hair, she pushed her knee towards his chest, crying out again as he hooked his arm around it, lifting himself to face her, driving himself deeper into her. "Come inside me Mulder, oh God don't stop."

"Oh God Scully, I love you. I love you so much." He cried, emptying himself into her, collapsing on top of her, laying his head on her chest.

She waited a minute, before gently tipping him over onto his side of the bed. "That was amazing." He said, catching his breath, remembering that he was now approaching the wrong side of fifty.

She leaned over, kissing him softly. "Yeah it was." After a moment, she got up and, pulling on a silk dressing gown, made her way into the bathroom.

Moments before sleep claimed him, he thought about his life, their life. She'd been right of course. Nothing would touch them... he wouldn't let it.


	4. Chapter 4

**just a quick note to say that i am posting this as i write, otherwise i tend not to finish my stories! It is well planned but unbeta'd, any feedback is more than welcome xxx**

Chapter 4

"No Fox, she's not here. Should I be expecting her?" Margeret Scully instantly hurried to the window, pulling back the curtains to check for her daugters car. She'd known instantly that something was wrong. She'd woken early for a Sunday and had no reservations about using the morning sunshine to go pick vegetables from the garden. She'd known that something was wrong, because very few people rang her at half six on a sunday, but Fox Mulder had. "Why would you think that she'd be here?"

"Sorry to worry you Mrs Scully. She left work almost two hours ago and she's not home yet. I can't think of anywhere else she would have gone at this hour. If she calls you, please can you get her to contact me?".

"Of course Fox, just keep in touch." She put the phone down and collapsed into a kitchen fold up chair. She'd almost laughed when he'd suggested her daughter would be there. It wasn't that they didn't speak,but the times she had visited were few, the times Maggie herself had been invited to their home totalled zero. She didn't know why, but her daughter had pulled away years ago and the addition of a man in Maggies life had put an extra strain on things. She would call her tonight, make more of an effort from now on.

" She's only been missing a few hours Mulder." Skinner obviously not as bright eyed as Maggie in a morning. "Maybe she finished her shift and went for breakfast with the other Doctors. Have you been to the hospital?".

He grimaced. After the scene he'd caused that night, he doubted he'd get through the door. He remembered back

It had just turned seven, Scully had left for her evening shift and it seemed like the perfect opportunity to take another look at the file. He was sure Alice Homer was the first victim. Just because she was to be found after the others, that was no reason to doubt it. Who was this man? He'd be white, between twenty-five and thirty five, with a heap of baggage behind him. Could he be married? Possibly, although kids would not be as likely. He was a fantasist, possibly abusive with his wife too. Would his wife know about his misdeeds? More than likely on some subconscious level. He looked over the notes he made the other day whilst speaking to Scully and the photographs of the three women. Next thing he'd remembered was waking up in a cold sweat, lying face down among the photographs and paper work. This happened frequently when he profiled, sometimes for the better. Often he'd wake up with renewed vigour and different ideas. That night had been no exception.

He had arrived at the hospital and couldn't find her, until he was pointed across the hall where, through a plate glass door, Scully could be seen deep in conversation with a guy. He'd met him a on a handful of occasions and on each had found something to dislike about him. Doug Carter looked at Dana Scully in a way that, if he hadn't been so secure in his relationship with her, would have made his blood boil. He'd interrupted them without hesitation, much to her chagrin. He'd looked dishevelled, still trembling from the effects of his night terrors. "Scully, can they spare you here for an hour, I really need you to do something for me."

"Mulder I have like ten minutes of my break left. . ."

"Please Scully, can you get someone to cover for you. . ." He stepped between the two people, ensuring their conversation was over.

"Mulder no. I told you I would help you but you can't just come to where I work and expect me to drop everything."

She could tell she'd disappointed him, she'd put a hand on his arm. "Look I'll call you later and…"

"Don't!" He'd moved his arm away, accidentally pushing her backwards. That's when Doug caught her by the other arm, steadying her.

"Look, maybe you should leave." Doug said.

"I'm fine. Can you please leave me to speak to my wife in private?"

"Buddy I'm goin nowhere until you cool down."

Mulder glared at him, about to retaliate, before turning on his heal and exiting through the busy reception, which had quieted somewhat to listen to the drama. Scully had caught up with him in the car park. "Mulder, wait please." She's reached up and put a hand to his face, stroking his cold skin with her fingers. He sat down on the car bonnet.

"I'm sorry Scully, I was out of line. I hate that guy you know."

"Why? We only work together Mulder." She sat next to him on the car.

"We, only worked together Scully."

"Yeah, look at the last guy I brought home from work." She nudged him, until she saw a reluctant smile emerge. "You look like hell Mulder. Go home and sleep. I'll be home when you wake up, and then I will go wherever you want to take me. Okay?"

He'd nodded, feeling much more relaxed as he leaned toward her for a gentle kiss.

"There's some union thing on after work but it should only take an hour. I should be home for five." He'd kissed her again, and drove home to bed.

Now it was eight. He'd call the hospital, and hopefully he'd speak to someone who hadn't witnessed last night's outburst.

Now he was running out of ideas. Yes, Dana Scully had left earlier but had gone with Dr Carter to the cafe over the road. There had been a big meeting you see, something to do with the union. No, she didn't know if Dr Scully's car was still there, could she find someone to go check? Yes she would try. Within fifteen minutes he'd had the call to say her car remained in its space. Time to call Skinner.

"They're wasting their time with the car. She never made it that far." Mulder watched helplessly as the recovery team dusted for prints. "We should be looking at surveilence tapes, from the hospital and any from surrounding buildings."

Skinner turned to face him. "Mulder she's been missing for less than twelve hours. I can't do much more than this. I still think you're gonna get home and find..."

"Excuse me.." A tall thin red head pulled at Skinners arm. " Are you looking for my husband? If you are, that's not his car."

"I'm sorry ma'am, there must be some confusion..." Skinner tried to reassure her.

"Oh god why was I late? I'm never late, just this one time. I've tried his cell, everything."

" Whose your husband?" Mulder asked, half knowing the answer.

" Dr Carter. Dr Doug Carter."


	5. Chapter 5

**just a quick note to say that i am posting this as i write, otherwise i tend not to finish my stories! It is well planned but unbeta'd, any feedback is more than welcome xxx**

Chapter 5

"So, she left for work at six yesterday evening?" Detective Kretski took out his notepad. The detective had arrived just after Skinner, who had brought no news.

"That's right," Mulder rubbed his face with both hands, He felt useless sitting at home, but the detective had wanted to speak to him in their house. He knew he'd want to see her things if he believed she was missing. It had been twelve hours now. "I know she got to work, I saw her at around one."

" There is something else I need to ask you, Mr Mulder." His voice softened now. "How happy was you wife?"

Mulder stiffened. He had waited for this line of enquiry to surface.

"Happy." Was all he answered, but the silence that followed told him they wanted more than that. "What do you want to know?"

"Tell me how you met."

Mulder watched how Skinner adjusted how he was sitting. This would be weird for him to hear, but he'd insisted on being present, probably knowing what Kretski had in mind. Wasn't it always the significant other in the end?

Mulder pushed back against the table. "We worked together for nine years, we quit and moved out here."

"See I know someone at the bureau and I know it didn't happen exactly like that."

Skinner stood up. "I don't see how anything that happened back then has anything to do with…"

"They think she left me." Mulder interrupted. "That's right isn't it?"

Kretski didn't back off, didn't make excuses for himself.

"Then answer my question. How happy was she?"

"She left he career and her family to move out here with me. There's no way she'd have left. And if I did piss her off bad enough, she'd only go to her mothers."

"See, that's interesting, because rumours are rife that the other guy who disappeared, was having an affair with someone at work. Seems awful strange that they go missing at the same time."

"He might have been having an affair, but it wasn't with Scully." Now he stood, raising his voice. " While we sit here chasing dead ends, Scully is still out there somewhere and the longer she's out there the less chance we have of finding her!" He banged his fist on the table, before putting both hands to his face.

"I think you should go." Skinner went to the kitchen door, waiting for Kretski to follow. After seeing the detective out, he found Mulder back in his seat, propped up on one elbow, rubbing the stubble on his face. He looked a mess.

"We will find her Mulder." He said. " I'll put my best men on it."

"This time tomorow she'll be twenty four hours missing. You know the statistics..." Replied Mulder

"Yeah, I also know the statistics on the number of times she's been missing before...for longer than that. We will find her."

Mulder grimaced at the thought of those things happening. They'd always found her, or she'd escaped, but what had gone on in the meantime had left a mark. "She wouldn't leave me Walter. I know every man thinks that, but its true. This is the best its ever been, and I can tell when she isn't happy."

It wasn't until Skinner was about to leave, that Mulder noticed the faun coloured folder tucked under his arm. "Is that the pathology report?"

Skinner looked confused for a moment, before looking down at the folder.

"Yeah, but I didn't bring it here for you. I can get someone else on this Mulder."

"Let me look?" He took the file from him. After he'd been to the hospital and had no answer from Scully about when she could do further testing on the bodies, he'd given quantico the green light. Now looking at the report, he remembered one of the reasons he'd needed Scully by his side all these years.

"You want me to translate that for you?" Skinner asked.

"Please" He answered, staring at the page.

"Two of the women were found with high levels of tranquilisers in their system. They were also pregnant."

"Let me guess, they were the two that had been electrocuted?"

Skinner nodded.

"Forget this though. Go to the hospital and see what you can find there. I doubt that clown Kretski has looked past the end of his nose."

"Yeah, it wont be long before he pegs me as suspect number one, if she didn't run off with another doctor."

"No one who knows either you will believe either of those stories. He's clutching at straws that's all." He'd hardly finished his sentence, when his cell phone rang. "Thanks, we'll get right down to the hospital."

"That was one of my men. They found Dr Carter, he's alive and stable."


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

One month later . . .

Skinner knocked at the front door for the seventh time. The last time he'd been here was when he drove Mulder home that first night.

"You don't have to stay you know." Mulder had called, quickly hooking up the VCR they rarely used. "I mean, not if you need to get back."

Skinner had driven him from the station with a promise to a desperate Maggie that they would keep in touch. They'd gone back to the hospital, then to Kretski to obtain copies of the surveillance footage from all buildings in the surrounding area. Mulder had insisted on bringing the tapes home. Skinner had dropped down next to Mulder on the sofa, sitting silently as he forwarded through the first video.

'Who are we looking for Skinner? This guy plans, there's no way an opportunist would be this lucky. He followed her, maybe for a month. He was prepared to take action against anyone else, which is a big risk. He was smart enough to wait where any surveilance equiptment couldn't reach him. Those union meetings happen every two weeks on the same day so chances are he was following her for over a month."

"Could it be someone from a past case? We should check to see if there's anyone on parole."

"There's been no phone call, no message. He was careful not to get caught. If this was vengeful he'd have left something for me. I can't believe I'm just sitting here. God I feel so useless." Then after a pause he added, "Did ring the local PD? Does this MO match anything their working on?"

"Yeah about twenty cases. It would help if we had more to go on." He'd been right of course, attractive women were going missing all over America. He couldn't admit it, not even to himself, but Scully had become a sad statistic. His cell phone, rang, and he promptly answered. "Yes, thank you. I'm assuming Kretski knows about this? This takes the investigation out of his hands." Mulder's head shot up at the mention of the detective. Skinner hesitated. "Lab work from Doug Carter is back. The reason he was out so long was because he was injected with a Zapizolam." When Mulder didn't react, it was obvious he hadn't made the connection. "Mulder it's the same tranquilizer found in those women in the morgue. The women in the boxes."

From that moment the investigation had turned, with Mulder bringing his profile to the table. Today had been particularly hard for him. Another box had turned up. Skinner had kept this from him, until they opened it up to find a skinny brunette. Now he hovered in the hall way, uncomfortable in not knowing where the "Come in." Had come from. Then he spotted a brown mop of hair coming out of the top of the sofa. "Next time one of those boxes turns up, you call me." Mulder said, coldly. Then he got up. "You fucking call me next time. No one opens that box unless I'm there!"

"We had to open it! How do we know someone's not alive in there?" Skinner said through gritted teeth. He wasn't angry at Mulder for feeling the way he did. But he had been terrified when they opened that box. He knew from seeing that brunette that he wouldn't want Mulder to be the one who opened the next, incase it was her. Mulder sat and motioned for Skinner to join him, moving the blankets and pillows onto the floor.

"You're sleeping down here?"

"Can't sleep in that bed without her. I wont. Not until she's back."

Skinner nodded and sat beside him. "You know," Mulder continued, "I watch these tapes everyday. Every damn day. I read the reports on those bodies, I visit crime scenes and still nothing."

They sat in silence for another half an hour, before Skinner rose to go to the refrigerator. He returned, handing Mulder a beer. "You need this. You look like hell."

They both watched the mute television as some late night sitcom moved before their eyes. He sat back in the chair and closed his eyes.

"Shoulda seen this coming." He groaned, throwing back the bottle in hope of some short term relief. "We were so happy. I don't care what guy says. We were so happy, can't remember the last time things were this good." He cast his mind back, tracing the milestones of their relationship. There had been so many peaks and troughs, but lately, with his mind active with profiling and hers on her medicine, their only sadness was William, which was a sadness that neither talked about and that would never go away completely.

"What are you thinking?" Skinner asked, seeing the sad smile appear.

He waited for a moment, before deciding that Skinner was more a friend to him now then he had ever been and if there was a time for guy talk, maybe this was it.

"You know, all those rules at the bureau about cohabitation of partners?" Skinner nodded. "We were sneaking around for six months and no one noticed. Well, no one said they noticed."

"All I noticed was the bureau credit card only paid for one room in LA. But I let that one slide."

That earned more than a smile from Mulder, conjuring memories that he certainly couldn't share with Skinner. Mulder continued. "That day she crawled into bed with me, was the second luckiest day of my life. It changed everything."

"What was the first luckiest?"

"About three months before, when she asked me to make William." He took another sip of beer. "I mean, who the hell would want a kid with me? But she did, and you know the worst part Skinman? The very worst part? All I wanted to say was No. I wanted to say no, because I didn't want anything to stop what we had. I'm one selfish son of a bitch."

"But you said yes."

"Yeah, and the reason I said yes was even more selfish."

"I doubt that Mulder."

"I said yes, because I realised it was a way to tie her to me forever. How bad is that?"

"That's not so bad Mulder." Skinner sighed. "You think about him much?"

He watched as Mulder through his head back, blinking the tears away.

"All the time. Oh God if we don't find her, she wont see him." His voice began to crack.

"You know where he is?"

"No. But I promised myself; I'd find him when he was older, when we knew it was safe. I'd go alone at first; you know to test the waters. To make sure he wanted to know. I mean, I could understand if he didn't and I could take it, but Scully couldn't. Then I'd introduce him as one of the kids at the college, you know? Those kids I play basketball with. She wouldn't have to know at first…"

"She'd know Mulder. She would only have to look at him …" He stopped, realising he'd said too much.

"You've seen him?"

"I saw him once, at a little league about a year ago."

The tears welled again in Mulder's eyes. His next question came out strangled.

"Is he okay?"

"Yeah," Skinner let out a faint laugh. "There'd be no way she wouldn't know. He's you. He's you all over. He probably runs faster, but …"

"Don't." Mulder put a hand out, stopping the conversation.

"Your right." Skinner replied. "Lets keep this conversation until we're all together."

Mulder showed him an appreciative smile. For the first time in weeks he felt optimistic, because frankly, feeling the other way wasn't an option anymore.


	7. Chapter 7

He lay under the blankets on the sofa, watching Sandra Bullock steering a bus along the freeway. Skinner had left an hour ago, pleading that he clean himself up a little and get out of the house for a few hours each day. It had been the first time he'd spoken about Scully without reference to the case in weeks. He closed his eyes and remembered happier times.

The fingers gently touching his bare chest felt nice for the first few seconds, before his instinct kicked in and he went for his gun. Before he could fully open his eyes, a familiar voice soothingly told him not to be alarmed and a hand placed on his chest pushed him back down. "Scully?" He turned the bedside lamp on, squinting against the brightness of the light. He could make out the female sitting before him on the bed. She wore his New York knicks T-shirt. After their conversation about Daniel, she had fallen asleep on the couch. Moving her would risk her leaving and he didn't want that. His plan had been to watch TV, but that had been hours ago and sleep had beckoned.

"Yeah Mulder its just me. I hope its okay, I grabbed a shirt from the pile in there." She seemed shy now.

"No, no I don't mind. Looks better on you anyway." He laughed to mask the nervousness in his voice. He pulled himself into a sitting position. "Sorry I left you out there. I didn't want to wake you. I didn't know what you wanted to do. I came in here to watch TV, must have dozed off."

"That's okay Mulder." Now she sounded nervous. He waited for her to continue speaking, but when she didn't he began to worry about what to do next. If he made the wrong move he'd be rejected, but if he didn't do something he risked her feeling that way. He went for the middle ground, moving over and pulling the covers back. "You wanna talk some more?"

She murmured a yes and slid in next to him, taking advantage of his one arm resting on the headboard, to lie against his chest. He wrapped his arms around her, feeling uncomfortable only because her thigh was mere inches away from the hard on he'd had seeing her in the knicks T-shirt. He could feel her bare breasts covered only with the shirt against his chest.

"You want me to put on the TV?" He asked, knowing straight away it was probably the dumbest thing he could have said. He didn't want the TV on. He wanted them to talk. He wanted her to talk, to tell him how she'd now come to the same conclusion that he had years ago. He felt her stir, before sitting up and rubbing her face.

"Mulder maybe I should go." He sat up, grabbing her hands in his.

"I don't want you to go. You came here for a reason." Do it Scully. He thought. Don't make me wait any longer. I can't wait any longer. Give me the signal and I'm yours, but you have to give me that signal. I can't make this last gesture. Not unless I'm sure. He pulled her hands closer, moving her up against him, so that they were both nearly sitting up. "Where's this path leading?" He whispered.

Within seconds her mouth was on his, her hands out of his grasp and framing his face. They'd shared kisses before, but not like this. Before had been, gentle, kind, caring. This was fierce, unrelenting need, locked up for years and now set free. He kissed her back with equal passion, moving one hand under the shirt to stroke the soft skin on her back. He'd decided that doing that was safe enough, in case she didn't want to take things any further.

"Oh god," He gasped, breaking the kiss and throwing his head back, as she gently wrapped her hand around his erection, stroking him slowly. This was the stuff his dreams were made of, dreams that ended with him waking up in a mess. "Scully…Scully stop." He took the hand causing all the trouble and moved it to his chest. She looked hurt, and he quickly tried to explain himself. "If we don't slow things down, this is gonna be over way to fast." He pulled at the hem of the grey knicks shirt. "Will you take this off?"

"I thought you wanted to slow down?" She teased, leaning forward to straddle his hips, placing open mouth kisses along his jaw line.

"Oh God," he moaned. "I meant slow down for me, not you."

She pulled back, lifting the shirt over her head and tossing it on the floor. He must have been staring. Hell, he knew he was staring when she slapped at his chest to get his attention. He grasped the sides of her rib cage and dragged her toward him until she was sitting right in his lap, catching his breath at the feel of her panties on his cock. "Your beautiful." He whispered, kissing her neck and revelling in the feel of her hands in his hair. He worked his way down, sliding his hands up and down her sides as he took a red nipple in his mouth, suckling gently as she moved her core back and forth over his cock.

"Oh God…" She pushed herself further toward him, "Mulder…This is so good…"

In a second he had her rolled on her back, kissing her mouth again whilst his hands pulled at her panties, easing them down to her feet so that she could kick them off. His kisses trailed down her neck and past her belly button. She gasped as he pushed his tongue between her folds, pushing her thighs apart with his hands, before moving to settle between her legs. Before he could begin, he felt her hand pulling at his arm. He shrugged her away at first, but when she called out to him, he stopped, crawling back up her body to face her.

"Okay," he said. "But we're coming back to this." He kissed her, moving his sex to rub against hers. He knew she felt self-conscious. Those barriers she put up everyday had only come down temporarily and he knew it would take time for them to be completely comfortable with this new relationship. Then a nasty thought hit him. "Scully?" She opened her eyes and propped herself up on her elbows.

"What is it Mulder?"

He sucked in a breath and then said exactly what was on his mind. "This can't be a one time thing Scully. I couldn't take that. I love you so much We can't go back after this."

She considered him for a moment so long he began to panic. "I know Mulder." Was all she answered, before reaching up and capturing his lips with hers. It hadn't been the declaration he'd been hoping for, but he'd bared his soul and she hadn't hurt him. They continued kissing, until neither could ignore the constant prodding of his erection at her entrance. "You ready?" He asked, burying his face in the crook of her neck.

"Mulder wait." She pushed at his chest. " Mulder I haven't, for a really long time…I…"

"Me neither," he reassured her gently. "We'll go slow okay?"

She nodded, watching as he lifted her knees slightly and guided himself into her. Once he lay inside her, he moved over her, so that they were close when he began to move. This was better than any of the millions of fantasies he'd had of their first time. He pushed back and forth, carefully watching her face, hoping not to confuse the signs of pain with pleasure. Once he felt her walls saturate further, he began to move with more ease, pumping a little harder with each stroke. His concentration diminished a little more every time he glanced down to see her spread out before him, her face flushed with pleasure, her breasts moving with every thrust he made. Closing his eyes made no difference either, as her quiet non-sensical whimpering turned to his name being sighed over and over again. Opening his eyes, he moved himself back, hooking his arm under her knee, pulling her up toward him. This new position caused her to cry out.

"Does that hurt?" He stopped for a second, studying her face.

"No, don't stop Mulder. Please don't stop." She panted, moving a hand down between them to touch herself as he continued to thrust into her. It wasn't long before he felt her contract around him, bucking against him and crying his name over and over. He slowed his movements, waiting for her body to relax again as the after effects of her climax caused her body to shudder. The feel of her contracting around him, added to the sound of her voice repeatedly moaning her name, pushed him to climax. He slammed into her two, three, four times, emptying himself into her, crying her name in desperation. He momentarily collapsed on top of her, forgetting the crushing effect his weight would have on her ribs until she began to cough underneath him. He pushed himself up onto his elbows, knowing that what they had just done had not been the difficult part. That was yet to come. When she opened her eyes and saw him staring, she put a hand over her face. "Quit staring at me Mulder." She laughed, swatting his chest with her other hand. He playfully took her hand away from her face, staring down at her until she finally looked him in the eye. He wanted to make her promise that they'd never go back, but he wasn't stupid enough to do it now. He knew any promises she made now would be under duress, caused by her compulsion not to hurt him. Instead, he lay down on his back, outstretching his arms to encourage her to lie in them. Which she did.

He couldn't let her sleep without one last quip, just to know she wasn't upset or mad.

"Scully? This new path your on?"

"Yeah." She replied quietly.

"Do you think it could lead us ten inches to the right? You've rolled me onto the wet patch."

She snorted with laughter, rolling over onto her side and facing the other way. He followed, wrapping himself around her, overjoyed when she took his hand in hers.

The blaring of the television woke him, even though he'd been sure they hadn't had it on. He put an arm out, feeling for the delicate curve of her hip but found only a handful of blankets. Where had she gone? He opened his eyes, confused at how he had gotten onto the sofa, before sadness over took him. The happy memory of a dream made waking up to misery even more devastating.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Five months later

The last five months had been the worst of his life. The FBI had taken over Scully's case once the link had been made between the other abductions, although Kretski had continued his line of enquiry at first, speaking to Scully's co-workers and family as far as he could tell. However after six months now he could not rouse any ill feelings toward Mulder from any source, even Billy Scully. The case had begun to dwindle over the last two or three months, with all leads drying out. He felt as if he were the only one that truly believed she was still alive. He spent everyday going over the case, searching in isolation for the smallest piece of the puzzle. He'd switch between working, sleeping and running. That was his day. This morning however, when he turned the television on, his day changed course remarkably.

"You called her mother? You called her mother to identify a body? What the hell were you thinking!" He yelled at Skinner, pushing his way down the corridor that led to the morgue. "When did you find it?"

"I didn't call her... There was a mix up at DC. We only found the box this morning. "

"Why didn't you tell me they'd found another?"

"Because I wanted to make sure first. I wanted to avoid precisely this."

Skinner placed a hand on his shoulder, worried for his friend who looked so tired.

"Are you gonna let me go?" Mulder shrugged out of Skinner's grasp, taking long strides toward the double doors. He rounded the corner, just in time to see Maggie Scully closing the door on the tiny viewing room, her face stained with tears. His stomach turned. His heart seemed to stop as he felt blood rush to his ears, overwhelming him completely.

"Oh God…" He stumbled toward her, choking back tears that fell freely. "It's her isn't it? She's dead…"

"No!" Maggie put her hand out to touch his chest. It had been the first time she'd seen him since the police station. "It's not her. I've…I've never seen a dead body before."

She wiped her eyes with shaking hands. Mulder took her arm, steadying her as she took a seat in one of the garish plastic chairs.

"They called me, to ask me to identify a body. I couldn't understand why they called me? That detective, he's spoken to me three times since at the police station. Even now he thinks I know more than I do. I started to think I was a suspect."

"No, that's definitely not the case. He was told to let the case go. I guess he cant."

Mulder reassured her. "Let's get out of here. There's a diner over the road. Be nice to talk to someone about Dana for a while?"

"Lets go to your house then?" She asked. " I really want to see more of her life over the past few years. Anyway, you look like you need a proper meal." She got up out of her chair and started to walk down the corridor. He followed her, feeling slightly less troubled, but only slightly.

"I don't know why I could have thought that she was dead. Not even for a second." He sat at the dining room table, the case spread out as it been for weeks. Skinner sat opposite.

"Why?" He asked.

"Because we haven't found any recent bodies. The only way I could entertain the thought of giving up on Scully would be if I knew for sure there had been a victim to replace her."

"You think this guy replaces them?"

"For sure he does. That body in the morgue today was years old. Possibly one of the first victims."

"But you still think Alice Homer was the first?"

"Certainly. He made mistakes with her; she could've been a catalyst in some way. He also inflicted far less violence on her compared to the others. I mean…" He quietened his voice, aware that Maggie was in the kitchen. "Those other women were covered in marks, but only below their necks. They were burned, scratched and punched. He tortured them. Those girls were sexually assaulted whereas there were no signs of that with Alice Homer. Nor was she pregnant. The only connection is the box. It's the one thing I can't figure out. What do the boxes signify?" He moved the photos around, staring bleakly at the bodies of the tortured women. Skinner read his mind immediately.

"Don't think about it." He tried to reassure him. But there was nothing left to say. No 'it'll be okay in the end' or 'that couldn't happen to her.' They sat in silence until the welcome sound of Maggie Scully's voice travelled out of the kitchen and a plate of macaroni cheese was put on the table.

"I have more in the kitchen if you want some?" She offered to Skinner, who shook his head.

"No, thank you. I need to get back to DC. I'm sorry for what you had to do today." He nodded toward Maggie. "I'll be in touch Mulder." He promised, before closing the front door behind him.

"You know I could have made you something a little more nutritious if you had anything decent in those cupboards." She watched as Mulder picked at the food in front of him. It was hard to eat when you had spent the last hour imagining your wife's battered body.

"Thank you." He said, patting her hand with his.

"This is such a nice house. Dana would go crazy if she saw how untidy you'd let it get. Why don't you let me stay for a while and straighten things out?"

He started to shake his head, "You have your life in San Diego…"

"They'd understand. John is very understanding. I'd feel useful and…"

"You wouldn't want to be around me at the moment. Honestly I appreciate what your trying to do…"

"Please!" She cried. "Let me do this place. Let me look after you a little. For when Dana comes home."

He understood then. She too felt useless. She too feared that every day that passed, meant there was less chance of seeing Dana again.

He nodded rapidly, squeezing her arm, showing how grateful he was to her.

"So, tell me about your life here. What happens on a normal day? I know Dana works at the hospital still, but she leaves so much out. I think she imagines I don't approve."

That earned her a raised eyebrow. He was questioning whether she did approve or not, although he doubted she would give him an honest answer. She resisted, instead making her way over to the bookshelf, pretending to look through the various titles. Anything to avoid that conversation. She ran her fingers across the titles, as if touching the things her daughter liked would somehow bring her back. He watched as her body stiffened with sadness.

" She works days mostly. When she works nights I wait up for her. Sometimes I pick her up and drive her home." He stated loudly. "About a year ago I asked her to work less hours, which she's still deciding. I think she's scared of spending too much time with me."

"You work too though. She said you worked for the FBI again?" Maggie took her seat again.

"Kind of. I profile for the bureau I guess it's a paid hobby. That's why she was working that night, to make up for the day she missed to be with me. The one night I didn't drive over to pick her up either – because I was working." Now it was his turn for reflection. "I'll never forgive myself for this."

Maggie leaned forward and took his hand.

"When we find her…you wont have to."


	9. Chapter 9

"She's alive?" Mulder strode toward the attending physician, almost running into him as he made his way down the hall alongside Skinner.

"Yes she's alive, although she has yet to regain consciousness." The Doctor held up his hands, stopping Mulder in his tracks.

"But she'll be okay? I want to see her." He had been frantic on his way to the hospital. Luckily, this had been part of the week that Maggie Scully had gone back to San Diego. He hadn't wanted to bring her to see her daughter's dead body. Skinner had told him that they'd found her body washed up on Virginia Beach and Mulder had automatically assumed the worst. As they turned the corner and entered the private room, those fears resurfaced. Her skin looked grey and her lips blue. The oxygen mask pumped air into her lungs, causing her chest to rise slowly. He sank down into the chair beside her, recoiling at first when he touched her hand, before replacing his hand with care. He didn't take his eyes off her.

"Why is she so cold?" He asked the doctor.

"She seems to have been submerged in the water for quite a time. We suspect she was left for dead in the water, maybe held down with a weight. Her skin still displays signs of welts and bruising although we haven't done an extensive examination as of yet. We suspect the submergence will have disturbed any evidence." The doctor paused, sensing the emotion his words stirred in the man sitting beside the woman.

Mulder put a hand to his brow as his face softened, his lip caught between his teeth in an effort to stunt the feelings that threatened to overwhelm him. As he heard the door click shut behind him, his mind reeled off the events of the last few months.

Now they had a lead; a living, breathing witness. God knows what she had endured. His heart felt heavy again at the thought of what may have happened to her but he shrugged the thought away before it took root. She needed him now to be strong, to find the bastard that had done this.

"They say she'll be alright." He said flatly, as Walter Skinner entered the room, taking in the sight of her much the same as Mulder had. He watched Skinners reaction as he walked around to the other side of the bed. "She escaped."

Skinner snapped his head up. "What?"

"This guy doesn't take chances with bodies. He wouldn't have left her like that. She tried to get away at some point, recently most likely by the look at the scratches. She has bruises on her calves and they're the size of finger prints, you never know we might get lucky and get a print."

"Mulder…" Skinner wanted to interrupt, knowing how difficult it would be to keep him from this case now.

"I don't understand why there are no signs of asphyxiation like the others. There are no ligature marks around her neck and her wrists and feet haven't been bound. It makes me think even more that he wasn't ready for her to go yet."

"Do you think it's a different perpetrator?"

"No – just a different kind of victim."

Mulder sat in the hard chair opposite Scully's private room. Through the blinds he could see Maggie Scully sitting at her daughters bedside, praying she wake up. When Skinner had phoned to say that the local PD had found a body matching her description, he'd been sure it wouldn't be her simply because it wasn't the killer's MO. His victims were found in those horrible boxes. He'd assumed that Skinner had made the identification, a fact that he assumed to be false judging by Skinner abhorrent reaction to her condition. He had driven to the hospital assuming that the body they had found were dead. His mind had jumped between thoughts of a stranger dead, a misidentification, and the awful contemplation of the other. It wasn't fair. It had taken them so long to really find each other, and they hadn't had long enough yet not by a long shot. Or had they? Had they taken too much time and this was some Gods cruel way of letting them know? The entire time his mind had been filled with those times they'd wasted.

…

He knew she'd sneak out at the first opportunity, that's why he'd wrapped himself around her before they'd gone to sleep. He still couldn't believe she'd made this choice and silently thanked Daniel Waterstone and his dodgy ticker for moving things along for him. He felt her slip out from his embrace a little after five, watching through half closed eyes as she had fished around for her clothes. She'd left without checking to see if he were awake and so he closed his eyes again, letting sleep encompass him, trying to shake the feeling that today might not be the milestone he imagined.

He had arrived at work with minutes to spare before the expense meeting, due to take place in Skinner's office. On finding the office empty, he made his way up there, expecting to catch her before they went in. It was to his surprise that she wasn't there either and so he took his seat, disappointed that his usual distraction in these tedious meetings would not be present. Around ten minutes later, Scully had arrived without apology, placing a thick file in front of Skinner. "Thank you Agent Scully, for retrieving these from Agent Wenson. Now, lets see how Agent Wenson and Agent Reight manage to keep a lid on their expenses shall we? Agent Mulder, Agent Scully you could learn a thing or two."

As the meeting began with Human Resource giving their spiel, Scully took a seat opposite Mulder, glancing over only briefly before looking away as quickly. That was how they spent the whole meeting, because even though he could tell that Scully was doing her best to avoid him, she couldn't help but make the same occasional glances as he did. When the two torturous hours were over, they had both got up and headed for the door.

"Agents, I would appreciate it if you took the remainder of this Friday to complete your reports based on today's meeting. There isn't anything pressing on your caseload."

The afternoon had passed much more smoothly than he first thought it would, possibly because they had been assigned some wise guy from HR, who had happily talked for most of the meeting, leaving little time for awkward small talk.

Their meeting ran till the end of the day, leaving Mulder little time to speak to Scully about the events of last night. She had been quiet throughout, agreeing with everything he had said, a sure sign that she was not herself. As she gathered her things to leave he jumped out of his seat and grabbed his coat.

"I'll walk you out Scully." He followed her out into the hall and all the way to the parking lot, rambling on about his thoughts on the meeting and its redundancy. When they reached her car, she gave him a small smile, "I'll see you Monday Mulder."

"Are you kidding me?" He said, much more loudly than he had meant to. She looked shocked. Not shocked that he had raised his voice, but more that he dared to challenge the uncomfortable silence. "I mean, how long do you think you can do this for?"

"Do what?" She looked around to ensure there was no one around.

"Oh come on! Scully I understand that this is huge, I do. I also understand that we're at work and that makes things complicated…"

"Mulder, I just need time to think…"

He took hold of her arm now, pulling her closer so that he could lower his voice yet still make his message audible to her.

"Don't do this to me Scully. Don't give me everything I want and then take it all away in the next breath. Don't hurt me this way."

Then it was her turn to look hurt. He knew she would never cause him pain intentionally and he would never push this if he weren't absolutely sure that it was what she wanted too. She wriggled out of his grasp and opened the car door.

"I just need to think. I'm sorry."

With that she'd closed the door and started the engine, leaving him alone.

It turned past nine on that Friday night, as Mulder lay on his couch, watching muted images from the TV move before his eyes. His brain processed little, as his imagination ran wild replaying selected events from the night before. Of course she had every right to decide she'd made a mistake, but he knew that decision would be wrong. She would try to lie to him, and to herself but in doing so she would only drive him away. He had meant what he'd said. He couldn't go back. A knock had come at the door a little after ten. He'd known straight away it was her, even though the late hour made him question his guess to start with. He opened the door to see Scully dressed in black jeans and dark trainers, making her size seem even more diminutive.

"Scully? What're you doing here? I didn't hear a car…"

"I walked." She stated. "It gave me time to think."

"Well I'm happy for you." He turned and headed back to his couch, leaving her at the door.

She followed him, choosing to stand, nervous of sitting if he didn't want her there.

"Mulder you can't blame me for needing time to process this, its huge and it changes everything."

"Does it? Scully the way you were acting today it was as if it changed nothing!" He stood now, at the other end of the couch. "I laid it all out for you Scully. I told you how I felt and I told you what it would do to me if you rejected me after we did this and you did it anyway!"

"Mulder I haven't done anything yet!"

"You know me Scully." He stepped forward, grasping her forearms so that she was forced to deal with what he had to say. "You know that the only thing stopping this from happening sooner was my fear of losing you. Of ruining what we have together.. You're all I want.." He saw by her reaction that she now understood. He had trusted her completely with his feelings and she had discarded them. He pulled her over to the couch

"Mulder, I just don't know how this can work."

"Look Scully. If you turn around now and tell me you regret what happened I can accept that. It would crush me, but I'd accept it eventually. But you can't deny us this because of our job. This job has taken so much from us. This could be the one good thing we get out of it.. Each other. But only if you feel the same way as I do."

"Of course I do." She breathed quickly.

"Then what's the problem?" He asked.

"I'm terrified." She stated, covering her eyes with one hand. He waited patiently for her to continue.

"Mulder," She began again, "I have never met anyone like you. I've needed anyone as much as I need you. I'm scared that if we go through with this, I'll need you even more."

"What's wrong with that?" He asked. "I accepted that I needed you years ago. I love what we have."

" But that's just it Mulder. What if this doesn't work and we end up with nothing?"

"Okay." Mulder slapped his legs with his hands in parody. "It's too scary. It's not worth risking what we have. We can just stay like this forever, because what we have is enough. But you tell me, if you were so happy with what we had before why did you get into bed with me last night?" He stood now, as his voice became hoarse with emotion.

"Mulder please. You just finished telling me that you could accept it if we didn't take this any further…" She mirrored his body language now, her voice becoming defensive.

"Only, if you told me straight that you regretted it. Only if you thought last night was wrong in some way. I was there Scully, I know you want this. I can take this stubborn streak when we're on a case but not now, not when we're on the verge of having something so…" As word blindness seemed to strike, he waved his arms at her, feeling resigned to have lost this. As he moved past her, she reached out and caught his arm.

"I know what you mean." Her voice softened and in return his heart leapt at her final acknowledgment of the significance of this next step.

"What ever happens Scully, you will never lose me. You can set the rules, whatever you want, but please don't pretend that this isn't the right step for us. Because you're only kidding yourself." He waited for a response as she shrugged off her jacket and walked over to the kitchen, grabbing two of the beers he hadn't already opened.

"Okay… so lets set some rules." She said, handing him a beer.

….

Mulder smiled to himself, leaning back in the chair, watching as Maggie Scully still sat at her daughter's side. He often remembered that night, having relived the events that followed their discussion so many times on his own. And now he had her back, they could make more memories. The sudden movement of Maggie Scully disturbed his thoughts, as she stood quickly then came dashing out of the room.

"She's awake!" She cried out into the corridor, attracting two women from the nurses station. Chaos hit the corridor, and all because this tiny redhead had decided to sit herself up in bed.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Doctors swarmed into Scully's room, closely followed by Mulder. He had to settle for standing back, as hospital staff tried to secure the oxygen mask back to her mouth, injecting her with some kind of sedative. She instantly lay back on the bed, her flailing arms settling at her sides, as she fell back to sleep. "What are you doing?" Mulder pushed his way into the crowd.

"This sometimes happens when trauma victims regain consciousness. I've given her a mild sedative. She'll come round again, but we'll have her on a sedative to keep her calm."

Mulder couldn't help but feel cheated. He'd waited six months to talk to her, and now he was being denied this for God knows how many more hours. "When? When will she come round?" Most of the other staff left, leaving just one Doctor, Harrison.

"It shouldn't be long, although now we feel she's more stable it might be a good time to examine her further. If I'm honest I'm surprised she is this well. With your permission, I'd like to keep her out until tonight, and examine her as the FBI have instructed."

Maggie looked at Mulder, wishing he would make this decision quickly. He knew it would only be a matter of time before the investigation took over and they would learn what had happened.

No one was more surprised than Skinner when Detective Kretski turned up at the hospital. He had managed to hold off his two men from the FBI, an Agent Crane and Agent Pheeny, as difficult as that had been. They'd been on this case so long, without evidence, that now they had a living witness they wanted to get her talking as soon as possible. Kretski, on the other hand, wanted to talk to his witness too. He negotiated now with Skinner. "She was found washed up on a beach in Virginia, not in one of those boxes, which means she isn't one of your victims. She's a victim of some punk hitting out in Alexandria, Theres's been near enough ten rapes in that area over the past year."

"No." Mulder stood now, having listened passively for the last few minutes as these men argued over the woman like a piece of meat. "It's him and the examination will show it. She didn't end up in a box because she didn't give him the chance. Why do you think that there have been no recent bodies found? Yeah we found others, but they were dead long before Scully went missing. I'm telling you this is our guy and no one is talking to her before I do!"

A knock came at the door as the Doctor gingerly walked to the group of men. "I have the results of the examination Mr Mulder. I have Mrs Scully waiting in the relative room." As Mulder strode over, Kretski went to follow, stopped by Skinners arm.

"You can read about it in the report." He said.

"When can I see her?" Maggie pleaded through sad eyes.

"She's sleeping now, but she should come round anytime in the next two or three hours. We did a full examination, if you want me to run through the results?" Maggie shook her head, and headed for the door.

"I'll go wait for her to wake up." She left, closing the door firmly behind her.

The Doctor let out a sigh, and signalled for Mulder to take a seat. "When Dana was found, there were traces of salt water in her lungs. That, coupled with the location she was found suggests that she fell in the water somehow and lost consciousness. The sedative that you suggested we test for was found in her blood stream in copious amounts as were high levels of oestrogen and progesterone which I found strange."

"You mean like birth control?" Mulder asked, his brain making the necessary connections.

"Thats what I found so strange. Even If Miss Scully had been taking something before she..."

"She wasn't." Mulder cut him off.

"Well," The Doctor proceeded with caution, "even if she had, the effects would not have shown to this extent. Not now anyway. There are bruises and scratches along her back and some internal injuries as if she's been kicked and punched. Some of her injuries seem to have been treated, although ineffectively. There were no strangulation marks and certainly no signs of electrocution as you asked. There are signs of sexual activity, bruising to the inner thighs and wrists, but no tearing and no traces of semen. We're running more tests, one of which will be for HIV and AIDS, just as a precaution. If I were asked, I would say that whilst this is certainly a case of neglect and abuse, whoever it was made sure he kept her alive."

Mulder sat in the arm chair next to Scully's bed, watching as her breath came easily now. She looked thin to him, with her hair longer than he'd ever seen it, tinted with the grey that she usually covered so well. He was glad that Maggie hadn't wanted to be there as the Doctor read out the list of injuries and had been happier still when she had elected to go home and fetch some clothes ready for when he daughter could come home. A soft knocking interrupted his thoughts as Kretski entered the room.

"What do you want?" Mulder didn't even look up

"I wanted to see how Dana was doing." He paused, knowing that the words had not sounded as sincere as he would have liked. "I also just talked to the Doctor and I know that you know this doesn't fit your profile. I ask that you both make yourselves available to me when she wakes up." With that he left, closing the door behind him. Although he had suppressed the urge to follow Kretski out and slug him, Mulder knew inside why he acted the way he did. He'd been there before, where relatives feelings were overlooked in the pursuit of a suspect. He leaned forward and touched the side of her face, moving an errant strand of hair that had found its way across her cheek. She began to stir, and suddenly his heart began to pound in his chest. He'd spent the last six months waiting for this moment but now he felt himself dreading the moment when she asked what had happened to her.

"Scully." He said gently, "Scully can you hear me?" He couldn't stop touching her now, ignoring the Doctors advice that she should wake of her own accord. Opening her eyes, she turned her head to face him, staring for what seemed like an age. "Scully?" She opened her mouth to speak, mouthing quiet words that he could barely hear. He leaned down, until his face was inches from hers, catching odd words that she breathed rather than spoke. Her mouth closed for a moment as she closed her eyes. Then, on re-opening them, she screamed for her life.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

He'd made sure he'd been there for the third time she woken up, knowing that they'd kept her sedated until they were sure she would not have another hysterical reaction and hurt herself. She opened her eyes, and turned on her side to face him. "Mulder..." She reached out and touched his arm, waking him from his daydream. His head shot round and he fought the urge to put his hands on her, worried of another reaction. As he hesitated, she weakly tried to prop herself up onto her elbow, coughing terribly as her lungs protested.

"Scully? Scully are you okay? He moved forward, holding her sides to help prop her up, overjoyed when she grabbed on to his bicep for support. When she was sitting up properly, he sat on the bed and continued to stare at her to the extent that she automatically put her hand to her face, feeling for signs of something he would be looking at.

"Mulder say something. Where am I?" She pleaded, and in an instant he pulled her towards him, holding her fiercely as his whole body shook with relief. Feeling his intensity, she bought a hand up to his hair, gently stroking as she whispered into his ear. "Mulder whats wrong? You're scaring me. Why are you so sad?"

At that he pulled away, framing her face with his hands. "I'm not sad." He managed to speak although emotion pulled his voice to a whisper. " I am officially the happiest man alive."

They were letting her come home today. There had been no more outbursts since the screaming that first day and the Doctors were happy that physically she had healed after a few days under close observation. Any tests from the rape kit had come back negative, pending a check up in three months time and she remembered nothing of the episode, nor infact of the last six months. Kretski had been kind so far but Mulder fully expected visits from both the detective and Skinner today, given that both were convinced they had the only living witness to their respective investigations. She hadn't in fact spoken to anyone that much, save for asking when she could come home. She had quizzed Mulder at first, but his reluctance to give anything away had sent her straight to her main Doctor who had an obligation to tell her exactly what they found. This had quietened her drastically, even with her own mother, who had encouraged her to do nothing but eat and listen to idle gossip about elderly family members long forgotten. As lovely and as loyal as Margret Scully was, she would not be Dana's rock through this, Mulder knew. She would need someone who did not fear listening to the truth. She would need someone who could put their own needs on the back burner and leave their emotions at the door. That wasn't Maggie. Who was he kidding that wasn't him either. He could listen, and he would do what needed to be done, but emotion had not the control of action as he well knew. She had always been skilful in keeping feelings below the surface, when he wore his like a bright yellow tie. He looked over at her now, sitting in the passenger seat, staring off in to the distance. They'd said hardly a word since she'd got in the car, Mulder's small talk proving ineffective. Finally as they pulled onto the drive, he undid his belt and twisted round to face her.

"Scully, we're home." He reached out and shook her arm, freeing her of the daydream that had encapsulated her for most of the journey home.

"Mulder what day is it?" She turned and asked him.

"It's a Tuesday. Sloppy Joe night."

"No, I mean the date. Why is dark at Five in the evening? In July?"

"Scully we talked about this at the hospital. It's not July."

"It isn't?"

"Scully you've been gone for six months. It's January now."

She nodded quietly, recalling the conversation that had occurred a few short days ago. There had been so much to take in, that very little had been retained, leaving her feeling stupid and intolerant of anyone who dared to remind her of the details. As he went round to the passenger side and opened the door, she stared at him again.

"I missed Christmas." She stated, waiting for him to confirm.

"Well technically you did." He nodded. "But I didn't celebrate, so maybe we could have Christmas late huh?" His endless optimism must have cheered her slightly, as she climbed out of the car she took his hand and followed him home.


	12. Chapter 12

She turned the hot tap on again, feeling the water burning her toes. It didn't matter how hot the water was, she welcomed the distraction from the numbness that engulfed her brain. She knew Mulder had been disapointed at her coldness toward him at the hospital, especially since his utter relief and elation had been made so apparent. But what had she got to be elated about? About the fact that she'd missed six months of her life? About the fact that she'd had to be poked, prodded and tested for nasty diseases that may have been initiated by an even nastier incident that she didn't remember. This was the first time she had been alone since she had woken up, her mother, Mulder and Skinner taking turns to watch every Goddamn minute of the day. She loved Mulder so much and could understand exactly how he felt now, having been in his place all those years ago. She had been exactly the same, touching him as much as possible, desperate for him to respond in kind. But now she needed time alone, to make sense if what had happened to her body. She looked down and noticed how the water had paled her bruises a little. Dark blotches appeared over her thighs and torso, with stinging red welts around her wrists. Her lungs still felt heavy, her breathing uneven with even the most leisurely movement. She thought back to the last time Mulder had seen her in such a vulnerable way. It had been in the aftermath of Donnie Phaster and her body cut to ribbons. He'd offered to drive her to her mothers, an idea which had been quietly dismissed outright.

"Can we go to your place Mulder?" She'd asked and he'd obliged willingly. She lay back now, taking herself back to that night and the security he had provided.

###

She placed her overnight bag on the bed and removed her coat, Mulder hovered in the door frame, unsure of what she wanted to do. "Are you hungry Scully? Cos if you are I can run out and..."

"No!" She shot back a little sharply. " I'm fine I'm not hungry. I just need to clean up, can I use your bathroom?"

He nodded, as she grabbed the overnight bag and headed out.

He muted the television for the second time, confirming what he thought he heard a few moments earlier. Yes, there it was again, a sharp squeal. He ran over and knocked on the door.

"Scully? Are you okay?" He waited for an answer and on receiving none he carefully opened the door. "Scully I'm coming in okay?" He waited again, until to his surprise she answered that yes it was okay. He walked in on Scully; knee's drawn tight to her chest, leaning as far forward as possible. Her back was spotted with dark red droplets of blood, and one very large gash. "Scully what happened?"

She winced again. "I lay back in the water, and at first I thought it was the hot water. She then opened her palm and produced a six inch blade of glass. "But then I found this. It must have penetrated the skin and I knocked it when I lay down."

"God Scully it looks sore. I thought you saw the paramedics?" He knelt beside her, averting his eyes from the soft outline of her breast that showed when she moved her arm.. "Why didn't you let them take a look?"

"Because I didn't want them touching me." She folded her arms again and looked away. "I just wanted to get out of there and be on my own."

"Well, you came here and you're not on your own." He stared at her, daring her to even try to shut him out too.

"Yeah well, you don't count anymore...sorry I didn't mean that how it sounded." She smiled at him, wincing once more as her back began to smart.

"Scully I have to take you to the hospital and get this treated. You must have a pain threshold through the roof." His hand hovered over the larger wound, horrified that she'd been able to hide it for so long.

"I'm not going tonight. I'll go tomorrow when I feel better." She sounded resolute.

"Well will you at least let me clean it up?"

She looked round and regarded him for a moment. She'd almost forgotten about her naked state in front of him. She nodded pointing over to the overnight bag. "There are some sterilisation wipes in there and a gauze patch that should hold the bigger one until tomorrow."

They sat in silence as he wiped her back with the flannel, getting rid of the excess dried blood, careful to skirt around the larger wound, knowing that she felt the most pain there. He moved the cloth slowly in circles, altering the pressure along the clear expanses, pressing into her tired muscles. When he'd finished with the broader part of her back, he moved the flannel down her sides. She didn't know whether it was the intimacy of the act, or the tenderness with which he carried it out, but suddenly she longed for him to touch her there. He moved down her right side, and onto her torso, his hands inches from where she wanted it to be. Then, to her utter disappointment, he dropped the flannel in the water.

"Better get this gauze on before I get soapy water in this." He said abruptly, reaching to the floor for the gauze.

He had left her in the bathroom to finish up and get dressed, leaving a pair of novelty boxers and a T-shirt for her to change into. Before she went out to him, she quickly wipe her eyes with mascara, cussing herself for being concerned about such things considering the night she'd had. But it was important to her that she put on a brave front for Mulder, knowing that he blamed himself for not getting to her sooner. She left the bathroom, finding him sitting in front of the TV, watching a group of twenty something's playing a parodic game of football.

"Friends Mulder?" She dropped herself down next to him, curling her legs underneath it. "I didn't think this would be your bag."

"Oh it's not..." He did his best mock leer at her now. "But I love Courtney Cox." His serious face cracked into a smile. "I watch this..." He faced the screen now. "When I don't want to think. When I've had a bad day." He rubbed her thigh with his left hand, staring at the screen. She looked at him intently.

"Wow." She breathed, not taking her eyes off him. "You're such a good guy Mulder." She this said almost to herself., then wished she had for how absurd it sounded. He half laughed, turning to face her.

"What?" He laughed, before matching her serious expression. "What do you mean?"

"I mean." And suddenly she didn't want to continue. If he was laughing, it wasn't a good thing. "You know what Mulder, it doesn't matter. I'm really grateful for this, I'm gonna go to bed. I'll see you tomorrow." She put a hand through his hair quickly, loving how he turned his head, making the most of the contact. They hardly ever touched each other, so any opportunity had to be savoured. She got up and padded into the bedroom, not fully closing the door behind her.

###

"Scully?" Mulder banged on the door, opening it before waiting for a response. "Scully you've been in here for an hour. Are you okay?"

She instinctively drew her knees to hide the marks on her body. He knelt at the side of the tub, putting his hand in the water. "God Scully the waters cold. "

"I must have dozed off." She said.

"In the tub?" He laughed. "Come on Scully, I'm getting worried here. Come downstairs." He turned to leave.

"Actually Mulder, I was going to go straight to bed. Is that okay?"

"Well yeah." He seemed a little surprised. "I'll just lock up, and I'll be right in."

She nodded, feeling nervous all of a sudden. Mulder was acting like she'd been on vacation, all smiles and happy faces. She knew of course, the reason for this. He didn't want to face the journey in front of them. He knew as well as she did that eventually they would need to return to the real world, which consisted of a kidnapper, a crime and a crime scene. Maybe they could prologue this world of make believe, just until the morning. She should have known this would be too much to hope for.


	13. Chapter 13

She emerged from the bathroom, her towel wrapped tightly round her. Thankfully Mulder was still downstairs, giving her time to change into something that covered her up, and to apply a tiny bit of makeup to make her face seem a little less pale. She rummaged around in the draw until a pair of light blue shorts and a high neck strappy top came into sight. It wasn't perfect, but it would have to do. She climbed into the bed, letting her tired limbs finally rest. She had told them she couldn't remember what had happened, and to an extent she told the truth. However from the way her body ached she knew this had been the first time she had lay comfortably in some time. Her stay at the hospital had been far from restful. On the nights that sedatives had not driven her to pass out, she had lain awake, racking her brain to remember anything of the last six months. Now she closed her eyes, and inhaled the sweet smell of the pillow. Soon she heard the familiar clomping of Mulder's footsteps coming up the stairs and her stomach instinctively tightened. She thought about pretending to be asleep, but soon reasoned that it wouldn't be fair, not when he had been so excited for her to be home. He had been so careful not to invade her space, probably because of her explosive reaction at the hospital, another thing she could not remember. The door opened and he appeared, carrying a glass of water and a handful of meds.

"You forgot to take these at dinner," He sat on the bed and handed her the tablets. These were pills to keep the nasties away, another reminder of a secret life. A life that may have given her AIDS. He must have read her mind.

"Try not to think about it Scully. It doesn't fit with the MO." And that was all he said, before getting into bed next to her.

"Mulder how can you be so...so okay... with all this!"

"Okay with what?"

"You're treating this like I've been on vacation for Gods sakes!"

He sat upright, facing her now. "What?" He felt insulted.

"You haven't asked me anything, you haven't told me anything, the only thing you've done is acted like I've been at my mother's all this time." She could tell she'd hurt him, and so was surprised when he came closer, turning so that he sat opposite her, over the covers.

"Scully this is our last day of grace. Tomorrow you're going to be all over the news and the papers. The feds aren't going to leave you alone for a second. They're going to be pushing you to relive this and afterwards nothing will be the same."

"Oh God." She cried, putting a hand to her face.

He leaned over and pried her hand away. "It's not the end, and we'll get through this. But the next few days are gonna be hell. The next months too, if we're gonna catch this guy. I guess I just wanted a few days for us to be us." He looked at her with sad eyes now. "But I know it can't be that way now. God I'm so stupid...How could I even think that things could be normal right now."

She didn't know what to say to that. She could not reassure him because everything he said was true and what he had hoped for had proved to be unrealistic. She knew however, that he meant well and these farfetched anticipations were conjured from his deep rooted love for her. With this last thought, she dropped herself down onto his chest, relishing the feel as his arms as they soon caged her, making her feel safe again. He wasn't going to sleep. She could feel the tension in his body behind her.

"Mulder what's wrong?" She could barely breathe as he tightened his hold on her. She could feel his breath on her neck coming in tight gasps now and hot liquid dropping onto her neck. It seemed so backwards that he could feel this way about something she knew nothing about. She turned in his arms so that she faced him now, and acted on her instinct, which was to pull his mouth onto hers in an effort to comfort him. Within seconds his hands were in her hair and his mouth claimed hers over and over again. She kissed him back, feeling no reason not to. Even after all their years together they still had many nights like this, fuelled sometimes by as much regret as desire. This was usually his way if he'd profiled a terrible case, or had dreamed of past close calls and although he would never be violent, the desperation would sometimes show through his relentless attempts to hold her body just a little too tightly. He was doing that now. She pushed at his chest, taking a lung full of air as he allowed the distance between them. He rolled off her, collapsing on his side, before gathering her up again and collapsing into grief. Rarely had she ever seen him like this. Out of the two of them he was certainly the most comfortable with his emotions, she knew that. But at the same time he had been her rock more times than she could count and what she certainly had not counted on was his complete breakdown in front of her. Maybe she shouldn't be so shocked. When he had been away for six months it had tore her heart out. Back then, if she'd had the opportunity to be close with him like this, she guessed she would have reacted the same way. She put her arms around him, comforting him as best she could.

"It'll be okay now Mulder. The worst is over."

How wrong she was.


	14. Chapter 14

When she woke, Scully instantly put a hand out to the empty side of the bed. It wasn't uncommon for Mulder to wake before she did, but he usually returned to bed in time for when she woke up. This morning he had not. She heard loud voices downstairs, of two men and her mother. As she pulled on a pair of joggers, she caught sight of herself in the mirror. She looked pale, even for her. And thin. So thin she felt engulfed by the long sleeved top she pulled over her head. She took a few minutes to wipe last night's make up off and apply new, hoping it would detract the eye from her scrawny frame.

"You can come back when she's awake. I'm not waking her up." Scully heard Mulder's voice as she descended the stairs.

"She's a material witness to my case," a strange voice said. "I need to talk to her as soon as possible."

"Skinner said it had nothing to do with your crime anymore..." She heard her mother interject.

"It has everything to do with me. It happened on my precinct, in the same area my guy works. Your girls end up in boxes, you told me yourself..."

"Scully!" Mulder over spoke him emphatically as Scully turned the corner into the living room. "You didn't need to get up."

"Obviously I did." She said, regarding the detective. He was younger than her, with dark brown hair. He was tall and lean, although thicker set than Mulder. He was handsome that was for sure, although he was also far too aware of that fact to appeal to her. "Your here to talk to me?"

"I've told detective Kretski that you'll be talking to the FBI at some stage and that he can take whatever he needs from their notes. You shouldn't have to repeat yourself."

"Ma'am I just want to ask you a couple of questions, that's all." Kretski interjected.

She glanced at Mulder, silently showing her appreciation for his protective stance. "I'll answer some questions." She said. "Just give me a second okay?" As she walked toward the kitchen her mother instinctively went to follow. "It's okay mom, I got it." She said, causing her mother to retreat. Mulder was not so easily dissuaded. As Scully flicked the kettle on, he leant on the worktop beside her.

"Don't feel like you have to answer anything that you don't want to. This guy is barking up the wrong tree. He has this idea that some junkie working the city is responsible for this. He's determined he's right and he won't stop until everyone believes him."

"Gee who does that sound like?" She said, opening the fridge for the milk.

"Ha ha." He mocked. "There's something else Scully. About last night. That will never happen again."

"What are you talking about Mulder?" She asked, before memories of his emotional outburst flooded back.

He watched as realisation dawned on her face. "Scully, from now on that doesn't happen. You can count on me, I promise you." She regarded him for a moment, before putting a hand up to his face.

"I know that Mulder. First job; send my mother on an errand while we talk to Kretski."

"Thank you for agreeing to talk to me Dana. I know this might be difficult." Kretski started.

"Only because I don't really remember anything." She replied. "I'm not sure what you hope to learn from me. It's like I woke up six months in the future."

"Well, how about we just start with some questions about your routine and the people around you. Do you only work in the city or do you visit for other reasons?"

"Erm, mainly work I guess. Sometimes if I'm on nights I'll get groceries before coming home?"

"So, you don't spend time there routinely, except for work?"

"No I suppose I don't. Is your guy a stalker?"

"We think so." He wasn't giving much away and to her surprise he wasn't trying to coerce her. "What's the very last thing you remember?" He asked.

"We were in New York. In a bar I think."

"That was over a week before you went missing." Mulder interrupted his disappointment obvious.

Kretski continued. "Do you remember anything at all about that night? We talked to Dr Carter, who seems to remember being stabbed by something sharp, possibly a needle..."

"I'm sorry." Scully stopped him. "What has Doug Carter got to do with any of this?"

Kretski cast Mulder a sceptical glance. "I'm sorry I thought you would have been told. He was injected with a high dosage of sedative and left for dead in a dumpster nearby."

"Mulder...why didn't you say ..."

"Because all this has nothing to do with Carter Scully. You wanna know how convinced this guy is about his theory? His first theory was that you'd left me, to disappear into the sunset with Doug Carter. "

Scully got up now, having answered enough questions. "Detective Kretski if I remember anything else I'll be in touch. But I think we're done here."

Kretski left, leaving Mulder feeling just a little smug. That wouldn't last long.

"Mulder how could you not tell me about Doug? Is he okay?"

"He's fine Scully. They found him the next day, drugged up to his eye balls but other than that fine."

She huffed, shaking her head, before walking out of the kitchen. He followed. "Scully why are you upset with me? I'm not the one following false leads and putting you through redundant questioning!"

"I'm upset because I don't know what else you're hiding from me. Is there anything else I should know?"

"Scully I'm not hiding anything. I didn't tell you about Carter because it wasn't exactly top of my priority list."

"Well I need to go talk to him." Scully said, quietly this time.

"Why?" He asked, a hint of accusation in his voice.

"Why do you think? He's a friend and he may know something about what happened to me."

"Well they already interviewed him five times over. "

"And what did he say?"

"He remembered nothing, like you. " He wanted to say more, but decided that it would keep. Skinner is bringing his men here in a few hours to talk to you some more, what do you want to do till then?"

"I want to go see Doug."

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

They sat in the car outside Mr and Mrs Carter's house. Just as Mulder had predicted, they'd learned nothing. It had clearly given Scully a little peace of mind though and for that he was great full. Before he started the ignition, he had to ask. "Who is Carter having an affair with? Do you know?"

She looked absolutely stunned. "Doug's having an affair?" She turned in her seat so that she could see him properly. "Who told you that?"

"Kretski." He replied, keeping his eyes on the road. "Although he was convinced it was with you."

"What? Based on what?"

"Based on the fact that you both went missing at the same time. Plus the fact that that Doug's wife told Kretski. They believed it."

"Did you?"

Mulder laughed. "Are you kidding? Scully if you ever leave me for anyone else, I hope to God it's for someone with a little more charisma than Doug Carter." He paused, noting her expression. He reached over and touched her knee. "Of course I didn't believe him."

"I can see why you have no time for him." She concentrated on her hands in her lap. "How long do we have until Skinner arrives?"

Mulder glanced quickly at his watch. "About three hours."

"Can we sleep, just for a while?"


	15. Chapter 15

Upon their return, they'd headed upstairs and fallen into a regular routine that usually only took place at weekends. She would strip down and climb under the duvet, whilst he would lie on top of the covers, watching whichever sport dominated the TV at the time. Today seemed like any other of those lazy Saturdays, she thought, as she half listened to the television. She had emerged from the bathroom in one of his shirts from the clean laundry basket to find him propped up against the headboard in his boxers and a T-shirt.

"I can mute this if you want." He'd offered, but she shook her head.

"Its fine, just don't let me sleep too long." She climbed under the covers, closing her eyes and dreaming of easier times.

Xxxxxxxxxxx

"Mulder, no TV. You need complete rest, Doctors orders." She pulled the remote out of his hand and turned off the TV.

"Scully..." He whined, his voice still scratchy from the surgery to remove the Tobacco bugs. "I'm so bored. I can't stay here all day on my own." He tugged at her jacket. "Can't you stay a while; we can play Doctors and Nurses?" She regarded him for a moment, inwardly chastising herself for even considering it. Since their first encounter they'd been together only a handful of times. He would turn up, or invite her over, with the pretence of looking over a case, which would inarguably lead to them going to bed. As of yet, they had never been to bed on a frivolous afternoon whim. She knew why too. It was easy late at night, under the slight influence of alcohol, in the dark. No time to think, no time to talk, until afterwards, when everything became so easy again. What he was offering now was something that couples did with ease. So why couldn't she? She flicked the TV back on, and to his disappointment headed out. He heard the locks in the door clicking. He didn't understand her sometimes. She usually made the first moves and he always reciprocated, but how could she find it so easy to knock her back? He heard a stirring in the living room, and began to get up, before being halted by the sight in front of him. She appeared, void of her coat and skirt, her shirt just long enough to provide her with an ounce of dignity.

"I thought I heard you leave?" He said, his eyes taking in the sight before him.

"I locked your front door." She replied. "I rang Skinner to say you weren't well and not to expect me in this afternoon." She climbed into bed next to him, sitting up straighter then him, eyes forward on the TV as his hand made its way along her thigh, reaching the juncture between her legs. She smacked his hand away.

"No way Mulder, you couldn't even manage the flight of stairs on the way up, there's no way you're capable of anything else." She warned him.

"Okay, okay." He coughed hoarsely. He turned again and grabbed the hem of her shirt. "How about you meet me half way?" He moved his hand up to one of the buttons, fumbling uselessly with one hand. "Come on Scully, I'm a sick man in search of a cheap thrill."

"Oh so I'm cheap now am I?" She moved herself away, just out of reach. "What's it worth?" She asked playfully, pulling at the buttons one by one, revealing the absence of any underwear beneath. He swallowed hard, enveloped by the eroticism of the moment. Her red hair had been tousled to one side, its deep colour stark against the pale of her skin, which revealed itself to him a little more with every moment that passed.

"I'll be good." He said, transfixed.

"No more calling work?" She asked. He nodded. "No more getting out of bed, no more takeaways, no more beer."

"Jeez Scully, your taking all the fun out of my life. You're gonna have to come over here and do this every day at this rate."

"Do you promise?" She folded the shirt up again.

"I promise, I promise." He said quickly, moving closer to her. She undid the last button and pulled the shirt off her shoulders in one quick movement. In no time his mouth was on hers, his hands touching, cupping and kneading. After a minute, he broke the kiss, before his lungs began to spasm, causing him to cough again. He turned away as his shoulders heaved. "Sorry." He muttered between coughs. As he leaned forward she pulled the pillows from behind his back.

"Lie down Mulder." He did as he was told, and once he lay on his back she draped herself over him, her breasts crushed against the wiry hairs on his chest.

"Is this okay?" She asked, stroking his chest.

"Yeah." He whispered, pulling her closer to him. They lay for an hour like this, happy in the company of each other. He had been surprised that she'd undressed in front of him as she did. Usually, clothes were discarded in the heat of the moment, no time for the indulgence he had just experienced. This act had made her vulnerable to him, something he knew she would strive to avoid in everyday life. She stirred beneath him, propping herself up on an elbow.

"Do you ever question this Mulder?" She asked.

"Us? No, never." He tilted his head to make eye contact, curious to what she meant.

"No, I mean, where it's going..." She trailed off; realising that she'd just dropped the C bomb. Commitment. She corrected herself. "I mean... hell Mulder I don't know what I mean... "

"You mean, how will it end?" He said, his voice straining. She nodded, guilty of even broaching such a subject.

"Things will change Scully. They have to, its life." He spoke carefully, watching the sadness and worry creeping into her face. "But this..." He grabbed her hand that remained on his chest and moved it higher until she could feel the beat of his heart underneath. "This won't change Scully. Not ever."

Xxxxxxxx

She woke with a start, causing Mulder to jump. "You okay Scully?"

"Yeah." She sat up, putting a hand through her hair. "How long have I been out?"

"Out?" He asked. "I didn't even notice you'd fallen asleep. Can only have been ten minutes or so."

"Is that all?" She asked. "I thought I dreamed."

"Oh yeah?" He waggled his eyebrows. He had ended up under the duvet also, but had kept his distance. "Was it a good dream?"

She nodded and began to undo the buttons on her shirt. He hadn't expected this. He knew there were bruises and marks all over the front of her body that she had gone to great pains to hide since returning home. She sat up before him naked, her heart practically beating out of her chest. When he didn't move she began to panic. "Is it that bad?" She asked, her voice wavering.

"No." He quickly divested his own shirt and pulled her against him, laying them both down. "Every day you get better." He said, placing a kiss on her forehead, before dreamless sleep claimed her.

"Scully." He kept his voice quiet, gently moving her in order to wake her. "Scully wake up its past five. Skinner's due in half an hour." She opened her eyes, feeling cold as she felt the cool air rush in as Mulder moved, leaving a gap between them.

"Okay, I'll get up." She searched around for the shirt she had discarded.

"Scully, I was thinking, seeing as though you're feeling so much better, why don't we go somewhere."

"Where?"

"I don't know, maybe go and see a movie or something. Something to get us out of here."

"Maybe tomorrow." She said without looking up. "Let's get this over with first huh?"

Mulder hardly recognised the two agents he'd met at the hospital. Crane was the older of the two, grey blonde hair swept back over a weathered face. Pheeny looked after himself with far more care. He looked young. Too young to have seen enough to solve a case as this one.

"Tell me again, what you remember Dana." Pheeny asked, not taking his eyes of his notepad.

"I already told you. I don't even remember going to work that night. I don't know what happened to me." She'd become agitated now.

"Well, at the moment we have little to go on." He said clinically. "We have the photographs of your injuries and samples of DNA under your finger nails." He pushed a brown envelope across the table to her. "You'll be happy to know, the results of all the hospital tests came back negative."

Time stopped for a moment, as she tapped the brown envelope in front of her. Tears threatened to overwhelm her in that instant.

"I want you to go." She said quietly.

"Excuse me?" Pheeny seemed surprised.

" I want you to get out of my house. Mulder I want them to go."

Mulder stood up, stunned by the defiance in her voice. He walked over to where Pheeny sat, waiting patiently as he slowly gathered his files. "We aren't through yet." He said, standing with his briefcase. "You're the only living witness to a serial kidnapper and murderer. I'll subpoena you if I need to."

"Hey." Skinner spoke out for the first time. "That won't be necessary." He put a hand on Scully's shoulder. "You ring me when you're ready, but not before okay?" She nodded without speaking.

She watched as Mulder saw the three men out. "I can't go on like this Mulder."

"What do you mean?"

"I can't stand not knowing. What's even worse is that others may know what happened to me before I do. I don't want that."

"Are you saying that you'd be willing to explore possibilities Scully? To help you remember?"

"I guess that's what I'm saying."


	16. Chapter 16

_The earth is warm next to my ear  
>Insects noise is all that I hear<br>A magic trick makes the world disappear  
>The skies are dark, they're dark but they're clear<em>

_A distant motorcade and suddenly there's joy  
>The snow and tickertape blurs all my senses numb<br>It's like the finish line where everything just ends  
>The crack of radios seems close enough to touch<em>

_Cold water, cleaning my wounds  
>A side parade, with a single balloon<br>I'm done with this, I'm counting to ten  
>Blue as seas, running to them<em>

_I feel like I am watching everything from space  
>And in a minute I hear my name and I wake<br>I think the finish line's a good place we could start  
>Take a deep breath, take in all that you could want<em>

"My lungs, they feel like they're going to explode." She didn't open her eyes, but lay still on the leather sofa opposite Dr Werber. " But I want to be there. I want to be in the water more than anything."

"Tell me about before the water Dana. Tell me what happened before the water."

"It's so dark and I can hardly move. ."

"What can you hear?"

"The water. I can hear the water loudest. A car too. Someone popping the horn on a car. It's loud but not as loud as the water."

"What about way before the water Dana? Where were you way before the water?"

"I'm sitting up. I hurt badly. My insides hurt so much I want to be sick. They hurt every day. I just want the water..."

"You do know that anything recovered during hypnosis is inadmissible in court." Werber reminded them.

"We understand that." Mulder interjected. "We believe that once we find a crime scene we will be able to link Scully to it. She remembers nothing at all."

"Well I can help you with that." Werber addressed Scully now, noting her quietness. "I can carry out a small procedure which may encourage your subconscious to recover lost encounters that your real conscious will begin to process."

"Isn't that what I'm doing here anyway?" She asked sceptically.

"Not quite. During these sessions we can recover incidents that have been repressed unknowingly during a painful time. This may take many sessions and I understand from Mr Mulder that time is not a luxury you have. This treatment is still in its experimental stages and is not something I take lightly. However if you are in the care of Fox I know that at any signs of adversity will be quickly recognised. Is this something you want to try?"

She nodded and so he continued. "By encouraging your subconscious to become more open to certain triggers you will begin to remember some things for yourself. For instance, if you had been bitten by a dog, a barking dog might trigger that memory. Like I said before its still in its early stages..."

"Do it." She said.

Scully went back to the car and waited for Mulder to finish his conversation with Werber. "She remembers events but no feelings about them. I know that its facts you want for your investigation, but its healing that you need for your wife. The triggers will help with this. Bring her back in a week, and give her any sedatives that she requires." Mulder thanked him and headed back to the car. Although he would not admit it to Scully he had been more than a little disappointed with the hypnotherapy session. Not so much disappointed with Scully, but with the depth with which she had buried these memories. He certainly did not, however, want to disclose his displeasure to her. He climbed into the driver's seat and handed her the tape of her session.

"I'm guessing I didn't do too well." She said, fingering the tape in its case.

"You did fine." He said, starting the engine. "It's a lot to ask you to remember everything in one session Scully. We need to turn over a copy of that for Skinner." He turned in his seat and put a hand in her hair.

"Why don't we grab a takeout tonight? I'll get us a bad movie and we can fall asleep on the sofa. How does that sound?" He asked, optimistically.

"Sounds good." She complied. "What's this?" She asked, picking up the brown envelope that rested on the dash board.

"That's from Skinner. It's more eye witness accounts and details on other victims. I said I'd look at it later. Are you okay with him having a copy of that tape? He's coming over tomorrow."

"It's okay." She said weakly. "Come on, let's go home."

They hardly got as far as the movie, before Scully fell asleep on the sofa. Mulder took this opportunity to look at

Mulder sat up in bed, keeping one eye on the TV, and another on the woman lying over his lap. He could tell by the rhythm of her breathing that she was not asleep, but was doing a good job in pretending. His hand had found its way to her hair, playing his fingers through the soft strands. She seemed so small and vulnerable now, not only because of her physical appearance, but in the lost look in her eyes whenever she searched the recesses of her mind to recall absent memories. She began to stir, causing him great discomfort as he tried to move her away from the erection that was quickly forming in his boxers. She pushed herself up to sit beside him, watching him stare at Seinfeld and company. "You okay Scully? Did the TV wake you up?"

"No." She said, placing an open mouth kiss on his neck, before he turned to kiss her passionately. This was the first time they had touched each other in such a way since her return. Then she snaked her hand down into his boxers, making him jump, then moan into her mouth as he revelled in this contact he'd missed so much from her. Sex wasn't the pivotal point in their relationship by any standards, but had marked such a milestone for them when it finally happened, and it had always been so good, that it was certainly not a neglected aspect. As their kiss deepened, he lifted her shirt over her head, breaking away for seconds before gently pushing her down underneath him.

"You sure you're okay Scully?" He had to ask. When she nodded, he re-invested himself with vigour.

He broke their kiss to trail his mouth over her left breast and onto her naval, stealing a glance upward to gauge her reaction. Usually she loved it when he kissed her there, but tonight she seemed nervous, hurried. As he looked up, he saw she watched him all the time. "Scully?" He moved back up her body.

"I'm okay, I'm just..." She hesitated. "I'm nervous." She laughed faintly. "It's so dumb I know." He watched as she put a hand over her forehead, shielding her eyes.

"It's not dumb." He sighed, positioning himself between her thighs, moving her hand away from her face. "We can do whatever you want. We don't have to do this..."

"But I want to, I do." He felt her pushing him toward her centre. "I need this Mulder."

He watched her face carefully, seeing desperation. Desperation to get back to normal as quickly as possible. Desperation to feel loved and wanted still. He nodded, and gently began to push into her softness, watching her carefully for signs of pain. He saw none, only concentration that she shouldn't need. He retreated slowly, before driving forward again, lost in the feel of her around him after all this time.

"It's just me Scully." He said softly, moving over her so that his lips hovered above hers. She put her arms around him, pulling him close so that his face fell into its familiar place in the crook of her neck. As he buried himself to the hilt, he felt her move underneath him, moaning his name softly. He propped himself up over her, watching her expression change as his hips moved in a steady rhythm.

"Mulder, thats so good." She murmured, moving her hands up and down his back, urging him onwards.

"Oh God Scully," He stopped for a moment, closing his eyes tightly. "I won't last much longer..."

"It doesn't matter." She said, gripping his soft biceps tightly. As his pace quickened, she began to respond as sighs turned into moans, and moans turned into cries. Her body arched up to meet him, her centre tightening around him until he could no longer hold out. His strokes became erratic as finally he began to climax, collapsing on top of her as he emptied himself into her.

They lay still for a moment, before he went to move away. She grabbed at his body, pulling him back on top of her. "Scully I'm gonna crush you." He laughed, propping himself up on his elbows.

"I don't care." She said, closing her eyes and lying back, allowing her arms to fall back to her sides.

"Well I do." He said, carefully moving to her side. "I just got you back, I don't want to have to tell your mother I crushed you to death. 'Oh Mrs Scully' " He played now, putting his hand on his heart. "I crushed your daughter by falling asleep on her after sex. But if it makes you feel any better, the sex was very good. Mind blowing even!'"

She laughed now, turning on her side to face him. "Mind blowing? Mulder I didn't do anything."

"Yeah well." He reached over and bought her hand to his lips. "Last week , I didn't think I'd be doing that with you again. So yeah, it was pretty mind blowing."

He looked sad now and she understood why. The morning that Doggett had found her lying on Mulder's bed, she had been thinking the same thing. She turned his face so that he looked at her. "Well if you're really lucky, I can reassure you again in the morning." She gave him one last kiss before she closed her eyes, hoping to dream the dreams of a happy ending. She did not get her wish.


	17. Chapter 17

She would never admit it, but she had lain awake for most of the night, terrified. When she closed her eyes, the darkness threatened to swallow her. When he moved closer to her, the proximity of his body made her nauseous. Inch by inch she had moved away, until the only other option was to fall off the bed entirely. Quietly she untangled herself from his embrace, put on a T-shirt and walked downstairs.

"Scully?" Mulder had reached out for her warm body, only to be greeted by the coolness of the duvet. He swung his legs over the bed and pulled on a T-shirt and boxers. "Scully?" He called out again, wandering into the bathroom. He made his way downstairs, calling a little louder now, fully expecting to find her in the kitchen. No, not there either. He glanced out of the window to see their car, plus another which looked distinctly like her mothers. He opened the door, and walked out onto the porch. There was nowhere in walking distance worth going to he knew that for sure.

"Oh my God!" He heard a woman shrieking. "Oh my God! Oh my God!" He ran down the steps and followed the cries, sprinting into the woods. There at the lake, he found Maggie waist high in water. "Oh God Fox she walked right past me! She walked right past me and she just jumped in! She jumped in!"

It took him seconds to catch up with Maggie in the water, but longer to get any further, as the water made any progress agonisingly slow. Once the ground fell away beneath him, he began to swim, and then dive. The murky water stung his eyes, but he kept them open, desperate for any sight of her. Before long he caught sight of a flash of white, stark against red waves. He reached out, relieved to feel that there was weight behind the white. Weight that he could pull to the surface. As they broke through into fresh air, water exploded from her lungs, causing her body to convulse. He carried her out onto the shore, laying her on her side as she continued to expel the dirty water. Slowly she began to push herself up onto her hands and knees, taking in long ragged breaths.

"It's okay Scully, your mom called an ambulance. Just try to relax, you're gonna be fine." He rubbed her back soothingly as she tried to push herself up to sit on her heals.

"Mulder?" Her voice croaked. "Mulder what's wrong? Why did you bring me outside?"

"Why did I...?" He began, before cutting himself short.

She looked at his eyes, seeing the concern they displayed. "Mulder what is it?"

"Nothing. Let's just get you in the house huh?" She nodded, allowing him to pick her up and carry her towards the house.

Later that Morning, Mulder had spent time in his office, leaving Scully in bed and her mother watching her. He stared at the five files in front of him, six including Scully's. There had to be a link somewhere. No one murdered in a completely random fashion, it just didn't happen.

Soon his concentration was interrupted by a clunking noise. He got up and wandered over to the kitchen, finding Scully cleaning an already spotless kitchen .

"Scully? What are you doing?" He asked quietly, walking up behind her and putting his arms around her waist.

"I just thought I'd clean up from this morning."

"You're supposed to be resting."

He pulled the dish cloth out of her hands and turned her to face him. "You wanna talk about what happened this morning?"

He held her in place, so that she couldn't get away.

"I don't know what happened, Mulder I told you before. That's why I'm going to Werber."

"I thought you were going to Werber because of the case?"

She hesitated now, realising that he did not think the two interlinked. Or if he did, he didn't show it, which was more likely the case. "Mulder, I've been thinking about last night..."

"Oh yeah?" He waggled his eyebrows playfully.

"Yeah...I don't think that should happen again for a while..." She hated the pained look that flashed across his face. "I know those first tests came back negative, but I need to be tested again in six weeks."

"Scully I told you, it's not his MO..."

"And I told you I didn't want to put you at risk." She said, pushing his arms away.

"It's not just that is it Scully." He put it as a statement rather than a question. "You need to tell me what's going on in your head..."

"I'm fine Mulder." She began to walk away, until he caught her arm.

"Don't! Don't even say that! You think walking into a lake to drown yourself is fine? You think I don't see you escaping into the bathroom and the red in your eyes when you come out? You're scared Scully. I'm Scared too. But I don't know what else to do."

They stared at each other for a moment, before a knock at the door gave her an excuse to slip away.

"What happened?" Skinner paced the kitchen, keeping his voice low so as not to alert Scully or her mother, who now sat in the front room.

"I don't know. I woke up this morning to find her missing, next thing I know she's in the lake, sinking. "

"She can't swim?"

"She's a navy brat, of course she can swim. This wasn't drowning; I think she was still asleep."

"Well, we're getting desperate now. Another girl went missing, a hitch hiker. It could be him. That's why I'm here."

"You want to pursue Scully's memories more aggressively? No way."

"We need something here Mulder. If it was anyone else you'd be pushing for the same thing." He continued as Mulder shook his head. "Look I know how you feel, I care about Scully so don't go thinking I don't give a damn. But she's..."

He hushed as Scully walked in.

"She's what?" She asked, opening the refrigerator and pulling out a soda. Despite the warning look from Mulder, Skinner continued.

"We need to talk to you again." He said, his tone much softer than it had been a moment ago. "We need more from you, anything to get us started. Mulder I thought maybe you could go with Pheeny and look over the evidence again." Mulder knew why they wanted him involved. In keeping him involved they would have greater chance of securing Scully's compliance.

Scully nodded. I'll ring Dr Werber and see if he can fit me in.

"I'll come with you." Mulder started, before she cut him off.

"It's okay Mulder, I don't mind seeing Webber on my own. Would you mind calling him for me though?"

He reluctantly nodded, eyeing Skinner carefully before disappearing into the living room.

"Thank you." Skinner said, making his relief obvious.

"I'll do this on one condition." She said, her manner turning a little more severe. When he nodded she continued. "Whatever comes out at this session, whatever goes on that tape, we keep between us. No one else hears it. Not your agents and not Mulder."

"Why not Mulder?" He said, confused.

"Because I think, what's going to be on that tape, will hurt him too much for him to recover." She looked away quickly, praying that Skinner wouldn't ask anymore. He didn't.


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

"I don't see it." Pheeny clasped his hands to the back of his head. "We looked into every bit of these girls lives and there's no connection."

"No obvious connection." Mulder murmured, moving the photos around the table. "Tell me about Ellen fairview."

" At the time that she went missing we actually called her husband in for questioning. They suspected him because of some kind of scene he'd made at work."

"A scene?" Mulder turned in his chair.

"Yeah."Pheeny flipped through his notes. "Apparently their marriage was on the rocks. They'd been going to counselling, because she'd had an affair with some guy."

"Did you check out the guy?"

"Yeah he has a good alibi. He got caught banging some other guy's wife about a week before. He spent a fortnight in hospital."

"Okay, Sally Rays?"

"Mother of two, married. Didn't work. She and her husband separated for a while back in 2007. They got back together a few months before she went missing."

"The first victim, Alice Homer."

"Single, never married, no kids. Receptionist at a local motel. All round nice girl. No significant other at the time"

"What about the body found before Scully?"

" Still trying to identify the body. I made arrangements for your wife to take a look like she asked."

"What? When did ask you to do that?" His shock was evident.

"She rang this morning...I'd assumed you'd asked her to do it."

"No I didn't." He said angrily. "Anyway, I want to talk to the two husbands. Then I want to talk to someone who knew Alice Homer."

Dana Scully stared at the body in front of her, dwelling for a moment on the fact that it could easily have been her. This poor girl, after all she had endured, was still to be claimed by her family. She examined the marks on her wrists and chest, mentally comparing them to her own. She had looked at the pathologist report, which pretty much stated everything she'd expected. Sexual assault, grievous bodily harm and death through electrocution were all present. "Can I see her personal effects?" She asked the chubby man behind her, who had acted defensively ever since she had arrived, seeing her as the critique. He nodded and walked away, returning with a cardboard box.

"Knock yourself out." He said. "Just a bunch of clothes she was found in."

She took the box gratefully and began to rummage through it, finding exactly what she was told. For a young woman her dress sense was a little mundane, consisting of beige cords and a brown cardigan. She turned each garment inside out, emptying pockets and undoing buttons. As she searched the trouser pockets, something small fell out. She picked up the dirty paper that had been folded at least three times. It was a page torn from a book, containing three lines of script.

Dumnezeu ştie toate

Dumnezeu vede toate

Dumnezeu permite răzbunare

Skinner closed the door and put the tape in the mini player. Then he listened.

"I'm alone. I can't see. My hands are tied to something, like a pipe. I can hear voices, footsteps above me. A child's crying. I can hear yelling. I'm freezing cold."

"What do you see?"

"I don't see anything. All I can see is the light coming from underneath the door."

"You do see something though. Eventually someone opens that door Dana. Who is it?"

"It's him. It's him and he's all over me. I can't get away. I hate him so much, the way he touches me. He's pulling off my clothes and I'm kicking at him but it only makes him hurt me more. He's grabbing at my knee's pulling them apart. I scream and scream but it's no use. He doesn't care. He slaps me if I scream. I hate him so much. I hate him so much but I need him to love me. That's why I let him. I need him to love me. I hate it so much but I need him to love me. Oh my God!"

He heard her scream on the tape.

"What? What is it Dana?"

"It's the other one. He hates me. Oh God it hurts so much!"

"What? What hurts Dana?"

"He's burning me. He's burning my skin. God it hurts so much. He's saying something. "

"What does he say?"

"He says Dumezu per might razburn"

Mulder and Pheeny sat across from Paul Fairview, seeing the same haunted expression as they had seen on Michael Rays. "Ellen and I had our problems, don't get me wrong, but she was my wife. I miss her every day, still." He choked back a sob, wiping his eyes, before straightening himself and shaking off the emotion with a rough cough. "So what do you want to know? I told the police everything before."

"We just wondered if there was anything else. Maybe something you felt insignificant? Something you didn't want to tell the police?"

He looked uncomfortable now, as did Pheeny, who had no idea where Mulder was going with this.

"There was some stuff I left out, because I didn't want people to think it was me."

"Why would they think it was you?"

"Because she was leaving me okay!" He roared and in one swift motion stood, knocked over the coffee table that separated the men. "She was leaving me for someone else!"

"Do you know who?"

"No. She wouldn't tell me. I made her go to a therapist every week. Sometimes we went together, but sometimes she wanted to go just her. She said it was helping her. I didn't kill her. I wanted to help her. His name was Dr Vincent."


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19

Mulder lay on the sofa, unable to focus on the television that blared in front of him. It was past six, and Scully had not yet returned home from her appointment with Dr Werber. At the sound of the door he jumped up, twisting his head around. "Scully? Where've you been? Your appointment was at three."

She hung up her coat and wandered over to him. She looked so much better now, he noticed. In just a short time she'd put on enough weight to fill her clothes again. "I'm sorry Mulder. I went for a walk and I guess I lost track of time." He pulled himself up and made room for her as she sat next to him. She stared at the television. "What did you find out today with Pheeny?"

"Well, I found out that five hours with Pheeny is much worse than one hour with Pheeny." He laughed, infecting her a little with it too. "I also found out that two of the victims were getting counselling from the same Doctor."

"What about the others?"

"As far as I can tell this wasn't the case with Alice Homer, or the other girl...or you." He kept forgetting that there were five victims. "We're going to see this Doctor Vincent tomorrow."

"Can I go with you?" She asked suddenly. It caught him off guard.

"You want to?"

"If he was something to do with my abduction, then I'll know." She said, talking over his shaking head. "Mulder, use me on this."

"You're still getting better Scully..."

"I'm going with you Mulder." She stood, and then made her way into the kitchen.

"How did it go with Dr Werber?" He had followed her into the kitchen, closing the gap between them with his long strides.

"It went okay." She lied.

"Can I listen to it?"

"You know what, I gave it to Skinner." She'd lied again. "He came to see me while I was looking at the latest body. You know, I found something pretty interesting on the girl. It was a page torn from an old book, with thin pages like a bible or something. Here," She felt in her pocket for the copy she'd made. "What do you think it means?" She handed it to him.

After a moment, he gave it back. "Like you say, looks like a bible. But I don't see what it has to do with leading us to the killer."

Inside, her stomach turned. She had listened once to her tape before handing it over. She knew she'd repeated the last line of that passage. Admitting this to Mulder, would be admitting she knew what was on the tape. She'd told to Mulder as many lies in the last five minutes as she had in the last five years. If they talked for much longer, he would know. "What time are we at Dr Vincent's tomorrow?"

He shook his head again, only ceasing when she put her hands on him, a rarity lately. "What time Mulder?"

"One." He replied sternly.

"Okay, let's get some sleep." She reached up and kissed him softly.

She lay on her side, an arm and a leg draped over him. "What's the matter?" He asked as she played with the wiry hairs on his chest.

"Nothing." She answered. Unconvinced, he moved his arm that lay underneath her, gently nudging her. "I was just thinking."

"About?"

"About how long before our lives get back to normal."

"Scully, it's been barely two weeks..." He began, before she leaned on him to push herself to a sitting position. "It's not the time that bothers me Mulder. It's... I don't know what it is."

He stared at her for a moment. "You want closure." He stated, in a way that showed her once again how well he knew her. "You will get that closure Scully, in two ways. When you know what really happened and when we catch this guy. We will catch this guy." He put a hand to her face, stroking her cheek gently with his thumb. "And you will remember...that's why you need to keep going to Dr Werber."

His last sentence chilled her. As he lay down again and pulled her back down onto him, she thought about the last lie she had told him and where she had really been.

"You subpoenad my tapes? You can't do that!" She marched up to Kretski with such force that he surrendered his coffee to the nearest desk. She had left the pathology bay to hand her latest tape to Skinner, only to be met by a memo to make an extra copy.

"I think you'll find that I can." He stated abruptly, unphased now by the tiny woman who had approached him so unabashedly before.

"Those are private. Those tapes were made during private sessions with Dr Werber."

"Funded by the US government."

"Is that what this is about? Money?"

"No of course not." He retorted. He watched now as tears welled in her eyes. He had researched Dana Scully well, and was certainly not prepared for any signs of emotion. "Look Dana..."

That got her attention."For six months I looked for you. I researched you, I profiled you. Just give me enough to know that I can't help you anymore and I'll walk away." She regarded him carefully, wondering what it was about him that was gently persuading her to talk to him now. "Come on, I'll buy you a coffee and you can tell me why I bug you so much that you won't let me help you."

"So what do you want to know?" Scully leaned forward nervously, wringing the serviette between her hands.

"Are you always this on edge?" Kretski finished the dregs of his third coffee of the day, and leaned back against the soft leather of the couch.

"These days not so much." She replied sarcastically. "Although it's only taken a six month kidnapping and two different law enforcement agencies pulling me apart to bring it all back."

He had that one coming he guessed.

"Anyway, you say you've done your homework, you know all about me right?"

"I know that popular opinion is you wasted your life. That you gave up a brilliant career and the chance of health and happiness to follow Fox Mulder to West Virginia."

"Do you always try to piss off the people you should be sweet talking?" She said defensively.

"I try my best." He flashed a genuine smile. "So why is it that you want these tapes kept private?"

"Because of their nature. Because they reveal so much of what happened to me, things I'm beginning to remember on my own."

"Things you haven't told your boyfried?" He said. She laughed inwardly at this. Yeah, her near fifty year old 'boyfriend'.

"You don't know me and you don't know him."

"I don't, but I know he would be doing the same in my place. "

"I don't want him to know I was here today. I don't want him to know you've heard these tapes."

She realised now why she had relented and gone for coffee with this man. Kretski was offensive, but he was also intelligent and relentless much like herself and Mulder. He'd not stopped working this case, albeit the wrong case, and right now she could have done with an outsider. Skinner's men weren't worth an punce of him, she knew that much. Add in to the mix that those men of Skinners were a type she knew of, who wouldn't treat her case with the sensitivity it deserved.

"I mean," She started, "you know that the guy who abducted me is not your addict don't you?"

"I don't know that for sure. As far as I'm concerned you're a living witness. Don't ask me why you got away, but you did. Makes me think there are other missing girls out there that could still be found."

"Well you listen to those tapes, and it'll prove that this isn't you guy." He nodded gratefully.

"How can I get in touch with you? I mean if I can't ring the house?"

She wrote her mobile on a napkin.

"Ring my mobile. But I am certain that this will be the only time we meet."

She opened her eyes and blinked many times, shaking the memory away guiltily. She looked up at Mulder, who was watching some late night reality cop show intently. She leaned up his body, and kissed him deeply on the lips. He responded after a moment, moving his hands to her sides. As she broke away, he seemed bemused. "What was that for?" he laughed.

"I love you Mulder." She lay back down on his chest, meaning it more now than ever.


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 20

They met Pheeny outside the Greenberg memorial building at just after one o'clock. As he approached, he lowered his sunglasses. "Dana Scully?" He said, cautiously. Their disguise had obviously worked. Mulder had piled her hair under a brunette wig and made her wear her glasses. If this was the guy it would seriously harm their chances if he recognised her.

The offices buzzed with people of all varieties going about their daily business, unsuspecting that there could be a serial abductor, rapist and murderer working beside them. As they approached the front desk, a man appeared out of another doorway. " Agent Pheeny?" He asked. He himself looked around forty years old with a pale complexion and thin frame. He was immaculate in dress, but his skin seemed pasty and his palms sweaty. "Forgive me, I thought I'd best meet you here."

As they sat inside the office now, Mulder glanced sideways at Scully, looking for signs that she remembered something.

"Just why is it that you thought it best to meet in here?" Pheeny asked, already suspicious of the man who's nervousness was evident to all.

"I thought it would be in my best interests that my colleagues didn't realise that I had two," He glanced at Scully, "Three police officers coming to see me."

"Do you know what we've come to talk to you about Lloyd?" Mulder asked, leaning foward in his chair. The man shook his head quickly.

"Two of your clients have been murdered under the same circumstances. We want to know everything about Ellen Fairview and Sally Rays."

He sucked a deep breath in, before burying his head in his hands. "I had heard of their disappearance. Ellen was a very troubled young woman. She craved attention and her husband found it very difficult to cope. Much of our session time was spent talking about her co-dependency. During our final sessions, she told me that she and her husband could not reconcile their differences. She was to leave him for someone else and she would not be attending anymore sessions. Perhaps you might want to speak to him?"

"We already did."Pheeny interrupted. "What about Sally Rays?"

"Sally had very different problems to Ellen. She was being treated for sex addiction. A few years ago her addiction cost her her marriage and her children. She came to me to be treated. It was the stipulation of her husband who would only let her back into the family home if she agreed. The sessions stopped when Sally went missing. I can get you their records." He quickly pushed a button that got him through to a woman. Whilst he requested the information, Mulder leaned in to Pheeny.

"I didn't see him being so forthcoming." Mulder remarked.

"I've seen this before." Pheeny answered. "They think that pure good will can throw us off their trail. 'Couldn't possibly be him, he was so helpful'."

They were briefly interrupted by a middle aged lady, who shuffled in with an arm full of files.

"Here you go Mr Vincent." She said kindly, setting the files down. "Will there be anything else?"

"Thank you Marsha." He said, handing the files over to Mulder. "This is everything on the two women. Now, I have an appointment in twenty minutes, but If you have any more questions, please feel free to make an appointment."

As they got up to go, Mulder noticed Scully's hands shaking. "Scully? What is it?" He whispered, knowing how much she wanted to hide her vulnerability from Pheeny.

"I need to get out of here..." She said, her voice shaking. "Mulder get me out of here now."

Scully sat in the corner booth, anxious that Mulder had also listened to the voice mail on her phone. She knew that was impossible, as she had listened to the message on the way home and deleted it straight away. The call had been from Kretski, who said he had something urgent to show her. She hated keeping this from Mulder, but she wanted to hear the answers first, and then decide what to do with them.

"Hey" Kretski slid into the booth to sit opposite her, sliding a black coffee her way. "Sorry, for the short notice but I think I have something you'll be interested in. "

She nodded, and he continued. "Well, I listened to the tapes. In fact I listened a few times and there was something that really stood out for me. You talked about this one phrase that was said by him over and over again. It's Romanian I know that much, although I haven't managed to get it translated yet because I haven't seen it in writing. But I recognised it from somewhere. Dumay something or other..."

"I remember that." She said.

"You should, you said it on the tape."

"No." She said, taking a scrap of paper from her pocket. "Dumnezeu ştie toate

Dumnezeu vede toate, Dumnezeu permite răzbunare."

"Where'd you get that?"

"It was on the last body."

He reached forward and took the paper, reading it carefully. "Guess we got our lead then. Can I borrow this? See if I can find where I know this from?"

She nodded. "You look disappointed." He said.

"I was hoping for a little more then what you've given me if I'm honest. We're currently following a lead to do with two of the victims having the same therapist."

"Sounds good. But just in case your guys are barking up the wrong tree..." He waved the paper at her. She gave him a sad smile, and got up to leave.

"Dana." He said, catching her arm as she turned to leave. "I'm sorry that this happened to you. I want this Bastards ass."

"You and me both." She called out, leaving.


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter 21 (some disturbing content)

"I want to remember everything." She said, sitting down in front of Werber.

"It doesn't work like that Dana..."

"I know, I know what you wanted to do and it has worked a little, but now all I have are these feelings...without a story behind them."

"What kind of feelings? "

"When I close my eyes, when the lights go out." She breathed. "When Mulder comes near me. I just need it to fit together now. Please..."

He relented, and put on the tape recorder.

After the third day, she woke up fully. She stayed quiet, listening to the voices and movement above. On that third day, he descended the stairs. Blindfolded she fought as he made no sound, but shook her violently, tearing her clothes off her cold body. She'd seen the aftermath of so much violent crime, but now it was happening to her, she froze. He leaned into her, putting his mouth on hers She bit him, causing him to recoil, hitting her hard. He launched himself on her her again, this time yanking her head back by her hair. She screamed, pulling her hands hard away from the pipe she was tethered to. Her screams silenced by the back of his hand and she froze again and waited until it was over, too scared to speak for provoking him again.

Later, pain woke her. Her face slapped over and over, a sharp ring moving dangerously close to catching her eye. For a second the pain stopped, before the smell of her burning flesh cause her to vomit.

"Why? Why are you doing this to me?" She screamed.

The response . "Dumnezeu permite răzbunare."

She knew she should be grateful of small mercies. Every day for a week she ate a good meal. After a month, he took off her blindfold and a week later she was allowed to walk around. The space she lived in was small, consisting of a worn mattress and a bucket of clean water each day. She guessed she was living in a cellar or crawl space, hearing the footsteps and sounds of a family above her. Since that first time he had visited her often, subjecting her to humiliating rituals. The acts that he made her do, she deduced, were to keep her in her place. He had not, however, beat her or burned her. He had made her pee infront of him several times. In one instance he had taken her clothes and sat opposite her for three hours, just watching. He was big, strong but not, scully guessed, particularly smart.

Another month went by as she listened to the routine upstairs. There were certain times when only light steps could be heard and she surmised then that he went out to work. All she needed was to make enough noise at the right time. Her hope for escape lay firmly in the hope that a guilt ridden wife or niave children would free her. Her plan to wait however, would be cut short.

His rage was as intense as she had ever seen it. He strode over to where she leant over the water bucket and dragged her to the mattress by her hair. She cried out, flailing arms and legs in hope of hitting him. He ripped her shirt, divesting her of all clothing, something he had never done before. This time had been so different. He dragged her jeans and underwear down her legs. Panic caused the blood to rise to her face as she felt his skin against hers. Bile rose to her mouth as he pushed inside her, tearing her apart. He pounded into her for what seemed like hours, holding her head back by her hair. Pain surged through her body as he quickened the pace, tearing her in half. Unable to climax, he collapsed on top of her, crying hysterically.

Her hands shook as she held them to her face. He had left as quickly as he had burst through the door. Tomorrow, she would scream. As soon as she knew he had gone, she would get someone to help her.

"Somebody help me! God somebody help me I'm down here!" After a few minutes the door opened, and footsteps could be heard descending the wooden stairs. She sighed, overjoyed at the sight of the woman who appeared in front of her.

"Please help me! Please..."

"Shut up!" She said, slapping scully across the face. "Shut up or you'll wake my baby."

She slapped her again, before getting a lighter out of her pocket.

"Wake up." She threw water in her face. "Wake up I said." Scully opened her eyes, trying to focus on the woman infront of her.

"Why me?" She said. "What did I do?"

" You know what you did. God sees all and he allows for vengeance."

She lay still as he emptied himself inside her. For a moment he stared at her, before withdrawing and moving off her.

"She won't let me tale you. I love you so much. I can't take you with me."

"Take me where?" She asked coldly.

"We are going away, on a boat. We go each year, to our people. She hates you, she wants to leave you here. Or take you away from me, like the others. I need you though." He silenced himself, before getting up and walking away. She just bought her ticket to freedom.

Next time he came to see her, she took a huge risk. As he put a hand out to touch her shirt, she backed away. "I don't even know your name." She said, beginning to undo the buttons herself.

"What?" He said, sounding both confused and irritated.

"You said, we love each other. But I don't even know your name. Give me something to call you."

"Call me John."

"Is that your real name?"

"My dads name." He looked down, quiet now. Then he jumped to life,pulling her shirt open and covering her like he had the last time. This time she didn't scream, or kick or bite him. He was her ticket out of here. If she could persuade him to take her on that boat, she'd get away...


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter 22

"We have to stop meeting like this." Kretski sat in the same booth as before, hoping to raise a smile.

"This better be good." She said, taking her usual seat, pushing the coffee offered her away.

"What's wrong?"

"Mulder's about five blocks away visiting Dr Vincent again. I told him I was going for a walk."

"I see." He said, a little disappointed by her lack of enthusiasm. "My Daddy was a cop in the sixties. He walked this beat for over forty years before a bullet in the hip slowed him down. He used to tell me stories about this and that, anything that would scare me a little you know?"

She nodded impatiently, watching as her cell vibrated along the table. "Well anyway, one night he comes home, all sweaty and dirty. There was some fire at the whorehouse. They pulled out like twelve bodies, all dead. Now he was sure he knew who it was. Poor town was overrun by them, but they were anything but poor."

"Them?"

"Yeah, a religious group, Romanian. They tended to keep themselves to themselves for the most part, but they openly shared their views on the sins of society. Turns out one of their own were pulled from the fire."

"A girl?"

"No a customer. A guy called Noah Sanders. When they looked at his body, someone had inscribed something on his back. Guess what..."

"Dumez..."

"Bingo. "

"Are they still in poor town?"

"No, their settlement decreased in size and eventually they moved to Eastville. Now I did a little more digging. Turns out Alice Homer wasn't such a good girl after all. Did you know that the day she went missing she quit her job at the motel?"

"She did?"

"Yup. I have it on good authority that she was on the next ferry to Eastville. She'd met a guy. A god fearing guy."

Mulder left the office, tapping Scully's mobile number into his phone. When all he got was voice mail, he left a message.

"Scully it's me. Look I just got to Vincent's office and you'll never guess what. Vincent turned himself in about an hour ago. Local PD is ransacking his office, but he's in custody right now. I'm getting into the car now, just let me know where you are and I'll come get you." He folded his cell down, and began to drive slowly down the street, knowing her favourite route off by heart. Soon the buzzing of his cell caused him to pull over next to a small coffee shop.

"Mulder it's me, I'm sorry I missed your call. "

"You get my message?"

"Yeah...look why don't you go to see Vincent by yourself? I'm not wearing my disguise. "

"Well, okay..." He replied. "How are you gonna get home?"

"Call me when you're finished at the precinct okay? I'll meet you there. " He hardly had time to reply before the phone went dead. He started up the car again, driving slowly through the streets. Stopping only for the pedestrians that crossed. He stopped only long enough to catch a flash of red. A flash of red walking with a familiar detective.

Mulder sat quietly, waiting for the right moment. Any minute now she would walk through that door, and he would have to ask her where she'd been. He was sitting in the entrance to the precinct where Dr Vincent had turned himself in. His whole body felt heavy with disappointment. Not only had his first big lead on the case turned into a dead end, but now his better half had started telling lies. No, 'telling lies' was probably a little strong. With holding the truth sounded gentler, although to him it was as betraying. His phone buzzed, not a phone call but a text, from Scully. His blood stirred again as he read it. ' Mulder, felt really tired so made my own way home. See you tonight x'. He closed his eyes, his mind running through the hundred different things she could possibly want with Kretski. If it were the case, she would have told him surely? His thoughts were interrupted when Skinner took a seat beside him. "I know you're disappointed." He said. "I didn't see this coming."

"Me either. When you said he'd confessed I thought you meant to the crime."

"Credit card fraud is a crime." Skinner answered, but quickly added, "I know it's not the important one."

"Yeah well, any man that uses a dead woman's identity to embezzle deserves to do time." Mulder sighed.

"He could still be our guy..."

"He's not our guy Skinner. I know for sure." Mulder interrupted. "I don't wanna go home yet, any chance I can sit in evidence?"

He sat in the dark room, removing files and plastic wallets from the boxes. He'd been over this evidence a thousand times. He'd seen pictures, autopsy reports, personal effects, crime scene details. Everything except the tiny tapes that appeared in one of the wallets. He put them in his pocket, before going in search of a device to play them.

He sat in the tiny room, headphones tightly clasped against his ears. Soon voices resonated.

"Dana, we've spoken so much about your ordeal in captivity. Now I want to know how you got away. How did you escape?"

"I made it impossible for him to leave me behind. I manipulated him. He needed me. He needed me so much. She hates me for how he feels about me, but I don't care. I made him take me with them."

"How?"

"I saw vulnerability and I took advantage of it. I made him need me, and I hate myself for doing it. For letting him do those things to me, but you gotta understand, I needed to convince him. I knew it would work."

"How did you know it would work?"

"I started asking for things. Painkillers, candy, cigerettes even. I asked for small favours that seemed insignificant to him compared to what I was giving him."

"And what was that Dana? What do you feel you gave him?"

"Love. He believed I loved him. When he brought me those things, it was a test. By the time I'd asked for him to take me with him, he'd stopped hitting me. I'd rather him hit me though, rather than do the things he did again. I hate myself. I hate what I became. I tried losing myself. Tried thinking of Mulder even, but that didn't work. He was so different to Mulder I don't know how I could even try to think it was him. And now everytime I'm with Mulder I think of him. He'd be so disappointed in me. There were times when I wanted to die, when I wanted him to do something chaotic and finish me. Then I'd think of Mulder. He's always been able to find me. I hate him now for not finding me. I know it's not his fault, but I can't help it."

"You haven't told me how you escaped Dana. How did you escape?"

"One night, after he'd hit me, he dropped a lighter."

He knew she'd notice the red rims around his eyes the minute she walked in. He'd managed to hold it in long enough to get out of the precinct and into his car, before the frustration and anger engulfed him. He'd been no better at home, emotions overwhelming him to the point of sickness. His previous annoyance over her secret meeting with Kretski had tapered away almost, leaving him with the guilt and heartache over what had happened to her. What she had gone to lengths to keep from him. He rarely cried, but he would admit to being an emotional man, never the stereotypical caveman who hoarded all feelings away. This however had knocked him for six. He'd known that there would be emotional trauma for Scully, but he had no idea how aware she was of it at this stage. Nor had he thought for a minute that she would go to this length to keep it from him. Now all earlier intentions of confrontation over Kretski were disolved. If he charged in and showed how upset he was over that, she might not talk about the tapes at all. He lay across the sofa in his T-shirt and boxers, his jeans divested as soon as his sickness had started. He'd had a text earlier to say she'd pick up dinner, leading him to believe she'd be late. As he contemplated dialling her number, the front door opened and Scully emerged with several carrier bags. Going straight into the kitchen, Scully called out to him. "Mulder? I'm sorry I'm late..." Her voice trailed out as his head began to spin again. "Mulder? Mulder what's the matter?" She appeared in front of him, kneeling beside the sofa, a careful hand running through his hair.

"Nothing Scully, I just feel a little tired."

"Well, okay. You wanna skip dinner?"

"No, you eat Scully. Then come and tell me where you've been all day." He said, forcing a smile.

"Mulder I have something to tell you." She said carefully, stroking his hair that lay across her lap.

"Mmm?" His eyes didn't move from the television.

"When I said for you to go by yourself today, I wasn't walking. I was meeting with Kretski."

"I know." His voice seemed particularly low as she could feel his Adams apple under her fingers.

"You know?" She let the surprise show a little more than she would have liked.

He turned himself over so he lay on his back, looking up at her. "Yeah I passed you as I drove home. What did he have to say?"

Now she was dumbfounded. It had never been her intention to anger him, but this passive display made her much more nervous than any confrontation. She proceeded slowly.

"He looked at the piece of paper from the latest body and thinks he recognises the passage. He'd also done some background on Alice Homer. He's going to a town where he grew up tomorrow morning to investigate. He's a good cop Mulder, I know he doesn't always show it."

"If he's got solid evidence on this case, don't you think I need to met him?" Again, his answer was short, giving nothing away. And again, she let surprise steal her words.

"Yes. Yes I do. Tomorrow?"

Mulder nodded. She slipped out from under him as he sat up. "I'll go call him now. You go up to bed, and I'll be there in a minute."

He left her to make her phone call, and headed upstairs. He knew his actions toward her were cold, which he didn't mean, but he didn't know how else to respond to her. This was like talking to a completely different person, for more reasons than one. She'd been keeping two big secrets from him which he'd had no clue about. She'd also been suffering inside, dealing with the remembrance of a highly traumatic event, which again he'd been clueless about. Or had he? She'd been having nightmares constantly and hell he'd even found her drowning in the lake. Deep down he suspected she wasn't the only one pretending everything was alright.

"He can meet with us tomorrow after lunch. He has a contact in his old town that's willing to give him some information." Scully closed the door firmly behind her, before pulling back the covers taking her place beside Mulder, who was sitting up, re-reading her case file.

"I thought you said you were sick?" She said, taking the file out of his hand. He reluctantly let go of it. She kneeled in front of him and leaned forward, taking his lips between hers. After two or three chaste kisses, he opened his mouth to her, letting his hands wander up to her hair. This was the type of passionate kissing that became less frequent as everyday life rolled on. But in this moment, everyday life could wait. Breathless, they break apart. Leaning her forehead against his, she struggled to find the right words, but managed somehow.

"I'm so sorry Mulder. I'm so sorry." She whispered.

"Forget it Scully. It doesn't matter."

"It does matter." She said. "Tell me how I can make this right."

He took her by the shoulders, moving her slightly away from him in order to look her in the eyes.

"Just tell me that I know everything. Tell me that you know you can trust me with anything." He watched her as she processed his request. To her credit, she seemed to think carefully about her answer, before nodding her head.

"I know Mulder. This was my mistake and it won't happen again." She kissed him again, this time reaching a hand into his boxers, finding him hot and hard under her touch. She pulled away, moving her mouth to his throat, listening to him groan with pleasure. His apparent gratification had meant that she was even more surprised than usual when he grabbed her hand and moved her off him.

"I'm really tired Scully. I know you are too." He hated the hurt in her eyes, but knowing what he did, he couldn't go through with it. It had all fallen into place for him now. The episode at the lake had been triggered by their intimacy, caused by a need to escape the pain. He didn't want this to happen between them until he was sure she could deal with it and there was no way of explaining this to her without revealing that he'd gone behind her back and listened to the tapes. He lay down flat on the bed, pulling her close to him with force, giving her no chance to pull away.

"I love you so much." He planted a kiss on her forehead. What irony, he thought, that each betrayed to protect the other.


	23. Chapter 23

Chapter 23

Kretski walked along familiar streets. He had left a boy and returned a man, who would use the streets and its people that used him up long ago. Of course this wasn't the same town it had been. Houses were tidy, lawns kept and residents no longer oppressed by fear of petty gangs or witchcraft. He halted when he arrived at number three, taking a moment to button his collar again in readiness. He knocked softly and was soon greeted by the old familiar face.

"Steven." He nodded. "You'd better come in."

If uncomfortable were accompanied by a picture, this would be it. Mulder sat opposite Kretski, concentrating on the photographs that he had brought them. "They were called the Inchide. They occupied about half of my home town when I was growing up. Like I told Dana the other day, they weren't quiet about what they believed in. After reading the passage left on the last body it got me thinking about an old case my Father once worked on. That's why I went back this morning. These people follow the same scripture as was found on that body. They believe that God wants them to take vengeance on the sinful. Those boxes are symbolic of a cleansing ritual."

"Their symbolic of any burial." Scully said.

" Not these boxes. They are narrow, too narrow to comfortably fit a normal sized body in them. And the way they are closed..." He fished around for a particular photograph.

"They only nailed the bottom part..." He remarked, pushing back in his chair.

"It's something to do with the soul."

"Are the Inchide Still there?" Mulder asked.

"No. They are small in number now and the majority, the old school if you like, relocated to Eastville, across the water."

"That's where they were taking you..." Mulder turned to Scully. "They were taking you to their settlement."

Before she could speak, Mulder continued. "Do you think we could get a list of Inchide living in the Virginia area?"

"That's what I hope to collect tonight when I go back. My father still lives there and he can get me details. Their close knit community I can tell you, I got some pretty puzzled looks whilst I was out there. I also did a little research on the passage you pulled from that body." He reached into his pocket and began to clumsily recite the passage. "Dumnezeu permite răzbunare..."

"God allows revenge." Mulder stated. Now he was the one getting the puzzled looks.

"Steven it's your father. Where are you?" The old man asked nervously, taking another look over his shoulder.

"I'm about ten minutes away now, what's wrong?" Kretski steered the Audi onto the narrow lane that led to his old town.

"Something's happened here since this morning, I think you should hurry up. I won't be at the house. Meet me at Carl's Diner. You remember where that is?"

"I remember Dad. Just tell me what's wrong..."

"Just hurry up." The line went dead.

After meeting with Kretski, Mulder had driven them home. Scully had argued her way into going into work later. He'd argued back and they'd compromised on paperwork, in her office for two hours.

She stood in front of the bathroom mirror, tying her hair back in a tight pony tail, which seemed only to high light the ageing her face had been hit with over the last few weeks. She applied some more mascara, thickening the lashes to take the emphasis from her worry lines.

"What are you doing?" Mulder wandered in behind her, grabbing the aspirin from the cabinet infront of her.

"Trying not to look fifty."

"Hey, I'm fifty." He flicked her arm.

"Yer but men don't get old, they get distinguished. Women, they just get old." She let her hair down again, shuffling through it with her fingers.

"You look great." He planted a kiss on her shoulder. It was the most he had spoken to her all day. He hadn't been unfriendly, but he certainly wasn't making much effort to make conversation.

"What did you think about what Kretski had to say?" She ventured, unsure of the response she would get.

"I think he genuinely wants to help you. I'm not sure whether we're going to find enough evidence to convict down this route, but at least we can narrow down our suspects. It was lucky you passed him the note from the latest body." She nodded as he walked around her, tossing the aspirin jar in the air. Then a flash of memory stopped her dead.

"How did you translate that passage so fast?" She asked, following him out into the bedroom.

"What?" He asked, a little too quickly.

"You just translated that passage like you already knew what it meant. How could you have known what it meant Mulder? How could you have..." Then she saw it in his face. He looked away and made his way down the stairs. "You listened to the tapes. Mulder I asked you not to, and you listened to them anyway."

She grabbed his arm as they reached the bottom of the stairs and he turned to face her.

"You were cutting me out!" He shouted.

"What?" She turned on him angrily.

"I hadn't got a clue what was going on in your head Scully. You were meeting with Kretski and telling him everything. You were holding out on me."

"I wanted things to be normal for us."

"Scully, you threw yourself in the godamn lake!" He'd expected a left. But instead she spun and grabbed the car keys from the table.

"I'll see you tonight." She almost ran to the front door, not stopping until she was far enough away to ignore his calling.


	24. Chapter 24

Chapter 24

"What happened?" Scully took the corner to the waiting room sharply, running straight into Mulder. He reached out to take her arms in his hands in an attempt to steady her. She shrugged from his grasp, picking up her purse from the floor. She nervously tucked an errant strand of hair behind her ear. "Will he be okay?"

"They say he'll be fine." Mulder took his seat again, next to the door. "He was shot with a registered hunting rifle. Skinner should have a name soon and we can make an arrest. The bullet went through his shoulder but missed the veins and arteries. His father was killed."

"This was done while he was...?"

"Yeah. While he was investigating this case. Somebody obviously knew he was getting too close."

There was an awkward silence as she too took a seat. Ten minutes passed before a surgeon walked through the door way.

"Well, he's going to be fine. The bullet missed every major organ and artery. His shoulder will have a nasty scar, but he certainly won't require surgery. "

"Is he conscious?" Scully stood now.

"No, although it shouldn't be long now..."

His speech was then interrupted by Mulder's cell. He stepped outside to take the call, leaving Scully talking with the surgeon. He listened carefully to Skinners voice, elated at the news he brought.

"Scully that was Skinner. They made an arrest and they'll be bringing him in within the hour. We need to get going."

"Why do we need to go?" She asked naively.

"Are you kidding me? Scully the guy who did this to you is most likely going to be sitting in a jail cell in one hour. If you can make an ID..."

"Mulder there's no way I can make an ID I don't remember what he looks like."

He backed down then. In a moment of excitement he'd forgotten himself. Was this how he treated his usual victims? "We should still go." He said. "We owe Kretski as much."

Mulder drove. She couldn't have done if she tried. Her whole body shook, both with fear and anticipation. They'd hardly spoken a word, which she hated.

"I couldn't understand why you weren't more upset when you found out I'd been meeting with Kretski."

"What, you're disappointed you didn't upset me?"

"No." She shook her head. "But I expected you to challenge me and you didn't. But now I understand why. You were already feeling guilty because you'd listened to the tapes when I'd asked you not to."

"No!" He slammed his foot on the brakes, halting the car. "I didn't push things because I knew if I were you, I'd have much bigger problems running through my head right now!"

He stared at her for a moment longer, before turning away to start up the car.

Mulder stared at the stranger on the other side of the glass. The guy was Joseph Lines. He was tall, over six foot, with brown short cropped hair. He was younger than Mulder, maybe late thirties, with a muscular mouth that seemed to make an angry face. He hated him already. The door opened and Pheeny walked in.

"His name is Joseph Lines. He's a local carpenter and yes, he was on a ferry to Eastville the week we found your girlfriends body and get this..." He handed him the file. "His misses works for the psychiatrist guy."

"Dr Vincent?"

"Yeah I guess that's how he found his victims, when he picked his wife up from work. Bastard. We're getting her in as soon as we locate her. So where's your girlfriend?"

"You mean Scully? She's waiting out back."

"You're kidding right? We need her to make an ID."

"She says she doesn't remember. If you can give me twelve hours I can bring her back in the morning?"

"We barely have that long. He won't talk until he gets an attorney."

"How long will that be?"

"Well its court appointed, so not long. You can't talk to him, Skinners orders." Mulder nodded. He was right. It would be unethical and unjust for him to question this man given Scully's involvement in the case. It would also be incredibly hard for him to keep himself from killing the guy.

"You sure you can't persuade her?" Pheeny asked again.

"No way. If we can get him some other way I'd prefer it at least for now. See if you can get enough to get his time extended."

Pheeny nodded as Mulder made his way to the door. "What are you doing now?" He asked as Mulder went to leave.

"Scully's with Skinner across the hall, I'm gonna take her home."

Pheeny nodded again, leaving with Mulder, so that he could enter the interrogation room again.

He followed Skinners voice into the small office opposite the door he had just exited. "Scully you ready to go?" He took her arm gently, instantly forgetting the frustration he had felt in the car.

"Yeah I'm ready to go. Skinner says he wants us to come back tomorrow."

"We need an ID in the next twenty four hours. If we can find some other way to keep him longer I'll let you know." Skinner said.

Scully went to speak again, before Mulder intervened. "We'll be back in the morning." He said, turning her toward the door. As they walked down the hall, Mulder halted her. "Wait, I want that file from Skinner." He tossed her the car keys and she continued down the hall.

In five seconds her knees buckled at the sight of him. Her heart pounded so hard against her chest that she struggled to breathe. She tasted blood in the instant before her instincts overtook her, and she screamed.

Both Mulder and Skinner leapt from the small office and into the hallway, just in time to see Scully's fists pounding at Joseph Lines, striking him over and over in the face and chest. Mulder got between them, for a moment taking the blows to his own body before taking hold of Scully's fists.

"What the hell are you doing?"Skinner called out to Pheeny, whilst trying to direct Lines back to the interrogation room." Pheeny grabbed the man by his cuffs and spun him into the right direction.

"Looks like we got our ID. Guess we won't be needing you in the morning Miss." He smiled, but only briefly before Mulder's fist connected with his face.

"You set us up!" He hit him again. Pheeny had not expected any further retaliation and fell back into the wall. Out of nowhere, officers descended upon them, dragging Mulder from Pheeny. Mulder held up his hands, knowing that it was the only way the other officers would let go of him. By the time they had cleared, Scully was nowhere to be seen. He ran out into the carpark, finding her in the driver's seat, the engine running,.

"Scully." He pulled open the door, speechless now.

"I just want to go home Mulder." She stated. He climbed into the passenger seat.


	25. Chapter 25

Chapter 25

He'd had to stop twice on the way home for her to vomit. Each time he'd leaned forward towards her and she'd thrown a hand back to push him away. He hadn't had chance to show Pheeny what he thought of his scare tactics, other than to tell Skinner that he shouldn't bring him to the house again. Skinner had agreed. He glanced over occasionally as she drove, watching her hands play nervously infront of her. Things had not improved when they got home. She immediately went upstairs. Before too long he heard the water running.

He sat at the kitchen table, reading over and over about Joseph Lines. He had a little history although nothing that had caused him to serve any time. His wife worked as a secretary for Dr Vincent and he'd have to agree with Pheeny that this would provide adequate opportunity for him to select victims. It did not explain Scully though. Nor the last victim. He watched as Scully appeared, dressed in a pair of shorts and a tank top. She made her way into the kitchen, busying herself in the washing up.

"What are you doing?" Mulder asked, walking up behind her.

"What does it look like?" She replied, not bothering to look around at him.

"Don't you think we need to talk?" He asked.

When she ignored him, he reached around her and grabbed the plate out of her hands, dropping it on the floor, causing it to crack into many pieces. She spun round to face him.

"What is it that you want Mulder?"

"I want you to stop pretending that our lives haven't been turned upside down. For Gods sakes Scully, tonight you ran into the guy that stole half a year of your life. This guy kept you in the dark and raped you for five months! I want to help you with this, but I can't if you're holding out on me!" It was a rare occasion that she saw him so angry. As he shouted, the vein in his forehead pushed against his skin. He did not relent. "Christ Scully I deserve more than this!"

"You don't understand." She kept her voice quiet, looking at the floor to avoid his intense stare at all costs.

"Help me understand!" He moved closer until he pinned her against the counter. "Help me understand why you can't talk to me about this!

Then it hit him harder than any slap to the face. "You weren't there!" She cried. "I waited five months for you and you weren't there!" He retreated away from her, his hurt blatant. She immediately regretted her words. "Mulder I didn't mean that." She put her hands in front of her so that they rested on his chest.

"You don't think that's what I feel every day? Don't you think I've lay here every night for six months feeling exactly how you describe on that tape?"

"That's why I didn't want you to listen!" She retorted. "It's what I felt then, it's not what I feel now!"

"Then what do you feel now? What is it that's making you want to push me away so much? So much that you'd go talk to Kretski about what happened?"

"Because it doesn't matter what Kretski thinks! It doesn't matter what Skinner and Pheeny think! This doesn't change things for them but it does for us!"

He moved closer again, grabbing her arms with his hands.

"What? What changes things? What could possibly come between us now after everything we've been through? What could you say to me that would change things now?"

"Because I was afraid!" She lifted her arms from his grasp and struck out at his chest. "Because I was afraid that you'd hate me!"

"Hate you?" The confusion on his face was evident "Why would I hate you?"

"Because of the things he did to me! The things I let him do to me! How could you want me after I did those things?" Her voice trailed off, as her body slumped against the counter. She bought a hand up to her face, rubbing the bridge of her nose and the corners of her eyes. "Mulder I feel like a totally different person now..."

"You're not." He pulled her hands away from her face, replacing them with his own. "Nothing could ever change you to me." He rested his forehead against hers, feeling her breath beneath his lips. He waited, praying that she would make this first move. It had to be her. She reached up, taking his lips in hers for a moment in the most gentle of gestures. He prepared to back away, until suddenly her fingers went to the buttons of his shirt, divesting him of it in a sharp movement that left his heart pounding in his chest. With his eyes closed, he felt her hands going to his chest and resting there. "Are you sure?" He whispered, moving his hands down to the hem of her vest, feeling the soft skin underneath. She put her mouth to his again, this time leaving no doubt in his mind as to what her intentions were. Grabbing the hem of her vest, he pulled it up over her head, groaning as he felt her bare breasts touch his chest. She moved her hands to his belt, making light work of the buckle and the buttons underneath, whilst he pushed down at the shorts she wore just enough until she could kick them down to the floor. He pulled her up as she wrapped her arms around his waist, walking them over to the sofa and laying her down beneath him. She reached down between them, wrapping her fingers around him, guiding him to her entrance. For the first time he opened his eyes, watching her face as he carefully nudged his way into her, feeling her tighten around him, her body full of tension. "It's just me Scully. Just like all the other times." He whispered, waiting as she relaxed and he could move again. Two, three, four strokes and he filled her completely, the concentration he needed causing him to screw his eyes shut.

"Oh Scully." He dropped his mouth to her shoulder, moving slowly, nearly all the way out of her, before pushing gently back into her, careful to control each movement. After all this time together, they knew each other so well in this way. This was by far the longest physical relationship either of them had ever sustained. In past relationships he had found that once the sexual discovery had dampened, his own motivation would diminish, seeing no point in pursuing something that had turned to the mundane. But this had been so different. Yes, after ten or so years the sex had become a little less frequent, and it wasn't always the mind blowing explosion it had been when they first got together, but he'd never experienced this level of intimacy with anyone. It was his intimate acquaintance with her body that made him stop now, sensing her anxiety.

"Scully?" His voice lowered to nearly nothing. "Are you okay? Do you want to stop for tonight?"

"No don't stop." She said quickly, putting both arms round his neck. He regarded her carefully, and she realised what he must be thinking. By now she was usually much more enthusiastic, both vocally and physically. Tonight she was quiet, and whilst he was in doubt her body had been ready for him, she seemed miles away in her head. For a moment he had a nasty thought. What if she was remembering that piece of shit Lines? What if she was reliving the torture but couldn't bring herself to tell him. As he pondered the thought, he could feel himself go limp inside her. He needed to rectify this before she reacted. Her self esteem was already at rock bottom, it would make things so much worse if she thought that his 'reaction' was anything to do with what she'd been through. He pulled out of her and got to his feet.

"Come on, let's move this upstairs." He said. She eyed him carefully as she got to her feet. "What?" He asked defensively. " I'm no cheap date Scully I have to be wooed." Seeing half a smile, he reached out and took her hand.


	26. Chapter 26

Chapter 26

"How is that even possible?" Mulder's voice could be heard from the other side of the front door. Scully had been up and out, walking the grounds to clear her head. The land belonged to a local farmer, who let them do as they wished in return for keeping an eye out for undesirables. She stood on the other side of the door listening to the conversation unfold.

"Well whoever they are their lying. Who's giving him that alibi?" There was silence for a moment, as the voice on the other end of the phone quietened Mulder. "Well just keep him as long as you can, and get Doug Ross in to make an ID."

She chose that moment to enter the house, pretending not to have heard. "Everything okay Mulder?"

She watched as he ran a nervous hand through his hair. "Not really." He leaned against the dining room table. "That was Skinner. Lines has an alibi for the time Kretski was shot."

"What? That's impossible. It's obviously fabricated."She began.

"No apparently they have security footage of him being treated at a local walk in centre for Kidney stones."

She sat down in disbelief. If they couldn't hold him on this charge he would walk, regardless of her outburst the other day. Mulder must have read her mind as he voiced the only option possible.

"I need you to get in touch with Doug and get him to come make an identification." He said. She nodded, pulling out her cell phone. Mulder breathed out deeply. He had hoped that this would be over, and that Scully could rest a little easier knowing the guy was behind bars. Last night had signified such a turning point for them; he didn't want anything to get in the way of this healing process.

"Doug can be there in an hour, is that soon enough?" Scully covered the speaker with her hand. When Mulder nodded, she returned to her conversation with Doug. When the call ended she folded the phone away and took a seat next to Mulder. "Mulder maybe I made a mistake..."

"No, no way. The minute that guy got close to you, you recognised something about him. I've seen it happen to victims of r..." He stopped himself, rubbing his face. "You knew him Scully." He looked across at her, as she cast her eyes away. He continued to talk, hoping to break the unease.

"They're saying now that he reported the gun missing too, but that's only happened since his lawyer got in there with him. They've yet to locate his wife, although if he walks away from this they may not even bother." He thumped the table with his fist, making Scully jump.

Last night had been amazing. She'd been unable to hide her feelings when Mulder had turned himself off mid flow. It was something that had never happened to them before, and it was no co-incidence that it happened now. However, once they were upstairs he had more than made up for it. He had pushed her down on the bed, sliding off the shirt that she had thrown on as they left the living room. Without wasting time he kissed her hard, letting his hand travel down to her thigh, hooking it under his arm in one quick movement. He kissed her one last time, before sliding down and planting a kiss on the stomach that had looked so wonderfully soft after her pregnancy. She threw her head back in anticipation, feeling his tongue gently parting her folds, remembering the ecstasy that always came from this. After two or three tentative touches, he covered her with his mouth, flicking the top of her clitoris. Feeling her hand run through his hair, he moved it to the side, entwining his fingers in hers. Soon she began to sigh loudly, bucking her hips up as his actions intensified. Soon sighing turned to whimpering as heat spread down her body and to her core. A few more strokes and she found herself flying, calling his name over and over again as he continued to lav at the tiny bundle of nerves that now throbbed with sensitivity. As she quietened, he crawled his way back up her body, keeping her thigh hooked under his arm. "Okay?" He asked, smiling but breathing heavily from the enthusiasm he always put into such activities. She nodded.

"Oh God yes Mulder." She let out a half laugh. "That was okay." She moved her hands to his ass, pushing him toward her. To his relief, he found her body relaxed and ready, as he easily slid into her slick centre. When he waited inside her for a moment, she urged him on again and soon they had set a steady rhythm, his pounding causing the headboard to bang against the wall, strangely adding to the eroticism of the moment. With every thrust she felt the pleasure building again, something that had never happened before Mulder. Jeez, she thought, with the men before Mulder she was lucky to get one orgasm a night let alone two.

"Scully I'm...real close." He said, each two words punctuated with another drive into her. She responded by pushing the thigh that lay hooked under his arm, telling him to do what he loved. "Ah god..." He laughed as he straightened, closing the gap between them by pulling her down the bed onto his cock again, this time hooking her high on his shoulder. As he began to push into her again, this new angle made her cry out and caused her hand to snatch out at his arm.

"Wha.. what?" He asked, stopping for a second. "You want me to stop?"

"No!" Her voice changed from the raspy whisper to almost stern. "Don't you dare stop."

A huge smile spread across his face as he slowed things down for a moment, taking a second to drink in the sight of a thoroughly aroused Scully, completely exposed and concentrating on each move he made. When he did pick up the pace again, it took merely three or four strokes before he felt her contract against him, he hands gripping the skin on his back painfully as she cried out. She pulled her thigh out from his grasp, instead hooking it around his waist to meet the other one. After not much more than a minute she felt him go rigid, calling her name out about a dozen times as the familiar feeling of his hot seed pouring into her signalled the end. He dropped down on top of her, his mouth going first to her neck, then to her collar bone, then to her mouth. He was so tired, but still mustered the energy to kiss her properly, taking a fistful of her strawberry hair as he did. He pulled back, keeping level with her eyes. "That was great." He sighed, moving off her to rest on his side.

"Yeah." She moved a hand up to rub her eyes. "I think great covers it." She reached over and pushed at his shoulder. It was something she did often after sex, usually to stop him looking at her. Lots of times he's pulled her hand off her face and pinned it down to the pillow, moving over her until she could do nothing but meet his gaze. How great it had gotten once the sex had stopped being so serious. She felt him get up for a few minutes, but when he returned she wrapped him around her, wanting such feelings of safety to last.

Mulder stood on the other side of the glass alone, watching Lines talk to his attorney. Scully had elected to sit in an opposite office, agreeing to look at the mug shot again. Last night had seen him lying awake for a long time, feeling ecstatic and anxious at the same time. He had got up with an excuse of getting water. He had gone for water, but locked the front door on the way back up, placing the key safely on the television. He would take no more risks until he knew she was one hundred percent herself again. The door behind Mulder opened, and Pheeny walked in gingerly. "Hey." He cautiously approached, standing next to Mulder. "We got the Doctor ready to come in and make an ID, we're just waiting for him to finish up with Skinner." Mulder merely nodded.

"Look man about the other day, It was what needed to be done..." Pheeny began but did not get to finish. Mulder grabbed his shirt by the collar, spinning and throwing him against the wall.

"You piece of shit Pheeny. That bastard in there beat and raped my wife for six months and you thought that throwing him at her was what needed to be done? Is that what you'd do to your wife?" When he received no answer he pushed him against the wall again and again, stopping only when interrupted by Skinner, followed by Doug. He released him slowly, before leaving them to it. A she exited the tiny room, he bumped into Scully waiting outside.

"Mulder I'm gonna take off. Are you okay to get a ride back with Skinner?"

"Yeah sure." Hes said, concerned. "Scully what's the matter?"

"I just don't wanna be here...with him..." She looked down at the floor.

"Well okay." He took her by the shoulders, encouraging her to meet his gaze. "I might be a while here, but I'll call you okay?" He planted a kiss on her forehead before she left.

Mulder made his way to the front entrance, dropping a dime in the soda machine. A woman he recognised as Doug's wife sat quietly. "Hey." Mulder called over. "its carol right?"

She looked up and nodded, quickly looking away. Fair enough, he thought, not the best place to make conversation. As he turned to walk away, she called out to him.

"It's my fault you no." She said. He turned again, and walked over to her. "It's my fault that this happened. You know Doug might have to take pills for the rest of his life because of his head injury?" Mulder took a seat. "No I didn't know, I'm sorry."

"This is all my fault. We've been struggling for years. We go to counselling you know. Couples therapy they call it." Mulder nodded slowly, realising their connection to the other victims. "I really thought they, your wife and Doug, were having an affair. At least that's one thing that came out of this. You see, Doug was cheating, but not with your wife."

"I already knew that." Mulder said flatly.

"I'm so sorry." She began sobbing. "This is all my fault."

"You keep saying that." Mulder interrupted. "But I don't understand why."

"Because I prayed something would happen to them. One night, Dr Vincent wanted to speak to Doug alone. His secretary showed me some notes from other sessions where it had been just them. Doug had told him he was seeing someone at work, she showed me the notes. I got upset and I told her who I thought it was. She seemed to understand so well."

"I don't understand..."

"She told me that God would take care of it. She told me that God allows revenge." As she began to cry harder, Mulder got up quickly. He sprinted down the hall to where Skinner and Doug were exiting the observation room. Skinner began to talk.

"Sorry Mulder, we got no ID. He couldn't remember."

"It's his wife" Mulder interrupted.

"What?"

"It's his wife orchestrating this. She most likely shot Kretski and may have been involved in the kidnapping. We need to find her now."


	27. Chapter 27

Chapter 27

Scully stirred in her bed as the ringing from the telephone downstairs woke her from the first good dream she'd had all week. "Mulder?" She called out, not having the faintest idea what the time was. It can't have been late; otherwise he would have answered her. She pulled on the silk dressing gown from the floor and headed toward the ringing sound. As she reached the bottom of the stairs, the ringing ceased, causing her to sigh loudly. A cool breeze blew through the front door, which swung inward, knocking loudly against the bookshelf. As she moved toward the door, she spotted something on the matt outside. As she bent down to retrieve it, her blood ran cold. The tiny crucifix that seemed so bland and insignificant brought make a hundred memories that sent her mind crashing back to the darkness. She had felt that crucifix burning into her skin every day for six months, from the shadowy figure that she did not recognise as her rapist. She spun and headed for the phone, having left her cell upstairs. As she began to dial Mulder's number, she pulled the receiver to her ear, devastated to hear nothing but the tone of a cut line. She heard the small voice whisper, before she hit the floor.

"Dumnezeu permite răzbunare..."

"She's not answering." Mulder snapped his cell phone shut as Skinner accelerated onto the free way.

"Look for all we know Pheeny is with Marsha Lines now and bringing her in." Skinner tried to reason, not even convincing himself.

"Then why hasn't she answered?" He began to dial. "Great now it's engaged." He breathed out deeply, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "Why can't this be over? God!" He exhaled loudly, banging the dash board with his fist.

Skinner glanced over and shook his head. " Mulder, I wanna know something. How could you be so calm back there."

"Back where?"

"With Lines. You think he did it right?"

"Yeah I do." Mulder knew where this was going.

"Then why..."

"Why haven't I killed him yet? Why didn't I bust in there and drag him across the table?" Mulder shook his head. If Skinner was asking him this out loud then it had surely crossed Scully's mind too.

"Because...If I do that, then its real. I just need to hold on a bit longer, for Scully's sake, just a little longer..." He turned away to look out of the window.

When she woke, she found her wrists tied to the radiator in the bedroom. Two power leads ran across the room, into the bathroom, where she could hear the trickle of water. A slight humming could be heard, of an old Christian him she was sure she'd sung in Sunday school once. She'd heard that song so many times in the darkness, that she closed her eyes now and could almost imagine herself there again. She thought back to the other women, and their demise. Electrocution. This couldn't happen to her, she wouldn't allow it. Every flight instinct kicked in as adrenaline coursed her veins. She could hear Marsha humming away in the bathroom next door and, knowing she had only seconds to spare, she yanked at the chord that held her wrists together. To her relief, one hand nearly fit, but nearly wasn't good enough. She yanked again, feeling the rope catch the joint at the bottom of her thumb, only affirming what she knew she had to do. How badly did she need to get away from this woman? How badly did she want to see Mulder again? Bad enough to give one swift yank to the one thing standing in her way, breaking the joint without hesitation.

Mulder flew out of the car, signalling to Skinner to go around back. He burst through the door, frantic. "Scully?" He called, poking his head through every door down the hall. "Scully! Answer me!" He began to sprint up the stairs, ignoring every informed thought that reminded him of the benefits of haste not speed. He reached the top of the stairs, noticing the long power lead that attached to another and led into their bedroom. He hardly had time to process his thoughts, before a dark shadow stepped out in front of him. He saw, before he felt, the knife screw into his shoulder. In seconds, pain caught up, sending him crashing to the floor. He watched helplessly as the shadow stepped over him and proceeded down the stairs.


	28. Chapter 28

Chapter 28

She ran so fast she didn't even stop at the sound of the car pulling onto the gravel nearby. It could be help, she thought, or it might be him. She couldn't risk that, so she ran to where she felt safe. The place she had focussed on so intensely when in her captivity.

Despite the pain he felt, he could see little blood emerging from his wound. "Skinner." He called weakly, dragging himself to the edge of the stairs. "Skinner!" He managed to raise his voice a little louder as he watched his friend walk through the front door. He pulled himself forward again, knowing that whatever pain he was about to feel would be worth it if he were to alert Skinner and tell him where Scully was. Where he guessed she would be.

Tree branches lashed her face and nettle stung her knee's but to her it mattered not one bit. Cold bit her bare legs fiercely and her feet screamed in pain as cut dry grass needled her souls. But that was nothing for the security she would feel when she got there. She just needed to get there.

The steady thumping of his body down the wooden steps alerted Skinner. Quickly he ascended the steps, putting out his hands to Mulder's shoulders. "Mulder, easy, easy. What the hell..."

"She's here."

"Scully?"

"Marsha is here. She's gone after her we need to find her..." He rasped.

"I'll go Mulder. Where will she be?"

"In the lake." Mulder answered weakly, watching as Skinner turned on his heel, calling for back up as he went.

Mulder lay there for what seemed like an age. He'd heard no sirens and certainly no return of Scully. He lugged himself down the remainder of the stairs, leaving a trail of dark red blood that mapped out the zig zag route he'd taken. Once he reached the bottom of the stairs, he dragged himself over to the coffee table, pushing himself to sit and eventually stand. He had to get out to the lake. He'd failed her once, he wouldn't again.

She waded into the lake, glancing behind her at every step. Before she knew it, she was more than waist deep in the murky water, unable to move any further. Suddenly she was rooted to the spot, as Marsha came into view.

Mulder stumbled through the roughage, batting low hanging branches away from his face. As he picked up speed he arrived at a narrowing on the trail, to find Skinner with a gun on Marsha, who lay soaking on the floor.

"Where's Scully?" Mulder bent down to catch his breath.

Skinner gave him a look of suprise. "You didn't find her? " He gestured to Marsha. "I found this one running toward me. I assumed she was on Scully's trail."

Mulder, still hunched over and breathing hard. Looked at Marsha. "Where is she? Where'd you leave her?"

"She deserved this." She answered. It was the first time he had heard her speak. Her thick Romanian accent caused him to listen hard. "You are good man I think. Women like her, do not deserve man like you. Just like I deserve good man."

He stared as her with incredulity. She actually believed this crap, he thought. She actually believed she was doing him a favour. "Where's that ambulance?" He called to Skinner, turning back toward the lake. As he reached the clearing, his eyes scanned the lake for signs of Scully in distress. All he could see at first was the light bouncing off the water. Then the quiet vision of red hair and blue silk floating across the surface.


	29. Chapter 29

Chapter 29

Watching her lifeless body float across the water, suddenly the gaping shoulder wound seemed nothing in comparison and finding some kind of higher strength, he began to wade across the dark water. Agonisingly slow was his progress and the harder he worked, the further the waves drove her away. "Scully!" He yelled, hoping that somehow he might wake her. Soon his feet no longer touched the bottom of the lake, and he was forced to swim. Even as the water stung his wound, his strong arms made light work of the water and soon he was able to reach out and grab her arms. Hooking her under his bad arm, his good one pulled at the water, hauling them both to the safety of the shore.

"Scully, can you hear me?" He moved an errant strand of strawberry blonde hair from her face as she stirred.

"Mulder? Mulder what am I doing here... What time is it?" She tried to push herself up, confused.

"You may have a sense of Deja Vu." He helped her up. She looked at him with incredulity, before realising what he meant. The breathlessness and pain in her lungs was the same as when she'd last time she ended up in the hospital. This time however, she remembered.

"Marsha..."She began. "Marsha was in the house..."

"I know." He pulled his T-shirt across to reveal a white gauze patch strapped across his shoulder.

"Oh my God Mulder..." She reached out to touch it. He pulled away.

"It doesn't matter." He said, taking her hand and putting it back on the bed. "And you're gonna be fine."

She stared at him for a moment longer, before forcing herself to ask, "What happened to Marsha?"

"Oh they have her in custody and they're waiting to interview her..."

"Waiting for what?"

"For me." He said uncomfortably. "I said I wanted to be there, but that I wanted to wait for you to wake up first." He looked down, reaching out and taking her hand.

"Then this is over." She said, blinking the tears back.

"Hopefully. A confession would seal it. I'm hoping she'll crack. "

"What about Lines."

"Psych have been down to Lines and have pronounced him not of sound mind. Scully he's been certified unable to testify. I need to ask you something." He proceeded with caution. "When Lines... when Lines used to..visit you... did he ever give you any indication that he thought what he was doing was wrong, that it was unusual..."

She pulled her and away sharply. "Why are you asking me this? Why would you even want to ask me this?"

"Because whether I do or not, a grand jury will. Scully they're gonna put you on the stand, and any decent lawyer is going to try to pull the insanity plea. And when they do they'll ask you these questions."

She pushed the blankets back and swung her legs over the side of the bed. "Wait here Mulder, I'm coming with you." She disappeared into the adjoining bathroom, leaving little time for him to disagree.

Skinner caught up with Mulder as he strode toward the interrogation room. "How's it going with Lines?" Mulder asked. As Skinner began to talk, his surprise at seeing Scully in tow was evident.

"Psych are on the verge of certifying him. They claim he has little conception of right from wrong. I know I know..." Skinner tried to placate the two of them. "He was treated once when he was younger, for 'Significant social and occupational disorder.' Whatever that means..."

"It's schizophrenia." Scully answered.

"So..."Mulder breathed. "Our best chance is getting Marsha to talk for both of them."

"Exactly." Skinner replied


	30. Chapter 30

Chapter 30

"Tell me about your husband Marsha." Mulder began gently, aware of the heavy presence behind the glass. He had been amazed that Skinner had allowed this. He had, however, reminded him and Pheeny of his profiling talents that they so quickly took advantage of in any other case.

"He's a goot man." She said quietly, beneath her strong accent was good English.

"Really?" Mulder opened a file and began to lie. "It must have upset you terribly when your husband started an affair with Alice Homer."

"he dit no such thing. He woult not." She remained quiet.

"Well I have a DNA report to say that he did." Mulder's voice began to rise as Marsha shook her head vehemently. "I also have DNA from three other bodies fingering your husband as a rapist. Your husband is a very bad man Marsha. " Silence fell. She obviously wasn't going to implicate her husband in anything.

"Then why don't we talk about what you were doing this morning by the lake."

"Gots work." She said plainly.

"Sorry?" Mulder leaned forward.

"Got sent me. Therein lies the defect of revenge: it's all in the anticipation; the thing itself is a pain, not a pleasure; at least the pain is the biggest end of it."

"So you want to talk about revenge?" He leaned back in his chair. "Why would you want revenge on Dana Scully Marsha." There was no answer to that. He reached into the file and pulled out the photographs. Photographs of each victim, before their fate, happy and smiling.

"What had they done Marsha? What had they done that was so terrible? So terrible that you let him do those things to them? What had they done to deserve it?"

"Blesset are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blesset are they that mourn: for they shall be comfortet."

"Did he do this to you Marsha?" He got up to stand behind her, laying out new photographs taken during the autopsies. "Did he do this to you at first? Is that why you took them?"

"For they lovet men's praise more than Got's praise."

"Look at the pictures Marsha! Look at them!" He yelled at her, spreading them out in front of her. He strode back around to stand with the desk between them. "You tell me what they did that they deserved this Marsha. Why would they deserve this?" His shouting had raised alarm behind the glass. Now Skinner stepped in, motioning Mulder outside. He left Marsha alone, staring at the photographs. Skinner began to speak, but Mulder pushed past him into the room opposite, where Lines sat. It took longer for the head psych to react then it did for Mulder fist to connect with Lines face, sending him flying off his chair. Again and again he hit him hard, drawing all attention to the tiny room as Skinner, Pheeny and two other agents hauled him away. During the commotion, no one noticed Scully slipping in to sit opposite Marsha Lines.

It was the most emotion that Marsha had shown during her time at the station. Her eyes widened as Scully placed herself into the empty chair. What she was doing was completely unethical. The tape recorder continued to run. Pheeny would kill her if she got any kind of confession that was inadmissible in court. But then again, Pheeny hadn't been battered and raped and drowned, had he? She hadn't even had to speak, and Marsha began to talk.

"When my husbant was small child, his father woult lock him in small room. He was different, you see. He dit not always understant what you and I understand. He woult do things that you and I woult not do. One day, he hit neighbours dog with stick until his leg broke. I dit not want to marry him, but our fathers, they were friends. John hit me often. He tried to be gut husband and I try to be gut Christian. Every day I see gurls, who are not gut Christians. Who have gut husbants. I am gut Christian but I have husband who hit me every night. Then he changed. For weeks he was nice. He was kind to me. Then I find he has that whore in a garage. He only tells me when he has killt her. I tell him, I have baby and he can have gurls. Gurls that do not follow Got. When Gurls get pregnant they must go. I have baby. I have the only baby"

"What did I do Marsha?" Scully leaned across to face her now. "What did I do, that I didn't follow God?"

"Give honor to marriage, and remain faithful to one another in marriage. God will surely judge people who are immoral and those who commit adultery."

"Adultery? You think I committed adultery?" She leaned her face close now. " Marsha, you got the right guy, but you got the wrong woman. You tortured me for six months and tried to murder me. And all the time you had the wrong woman. You did these things to an innocent Christian." She reached down and pulled out her gold cross. "I wonder what your God thinks of you now."

She left after this, meeting the men behind the glass, feeling somewhat relieved.


	31. Epilogue

EPILOGUE

"Aren't you ready yet?" Mulder put his head around the door. It was a post trial celebratory dinner that had been long awaited. Marsha had later confessed to Pheeny, much the same that she had said to Scully and, although Lines had been advised to keep quiet by psych, he had later broken down and confessed to knowing the girls. That had been enough for a charge, and later a conviction. Scully had not even had to take the stand to Mulder's relief. She turned to face him, noticing the clean shaven face and smoothed back hair.

"Wow, you look gorgeous." She said, not meaning to sound surprised.

"Don't sound so surprised, I always dress up for your mother. Anyway, you should be dressed by now we leave in about ten minutes. Okay?" His shoulder had cleared up without fuss, which she was thankful for considering the amount of dirty water that had washed through it. Marsha had not touched her that day at the lake. A panic attack, most likely brought on by the stress of the situation, had caused her collapse. Marsha had claimed later that it was the hand of God, taking revenge. Mulder had scoffed at her theory, remarking that if that were true, what kind of vengeance would he take on a killer and a rapist? He had been ordered to stay away from both Marsha and Lines after his outburst, although nothing else came of it.

"Okay." She smiled, tucking the ipod under the towel she wore. She had visited Dr Werber one last time before the trial, to try to recollect her escape. She'd had the session burned onto a disc and put onto an Ipod so that she could listen privately. Since Marsha's confession they had hardly spoken about her ordeal. They had both believed that she would have to take the stand, and why dredge up something that had been given the chance to let lie. But she knew Mulder wouldn't let it lie forever. She knew that on some level he wanted the last pieces put together, but was afraid to push her. Tonight she had finally felt ready to listen to the recording. The detail was startling.

It recounted her last day at the house and her last conversation with Lines. She had put on the act for one last time, begging him to come and see her alone on the ferry, pleading with him how she was terrified of the water and how she could not swim. If the boat were to sink she would surely drown if tied up. If he were to untie her, she would be safer. She also recalled how she had asked Lines to bring her the knife at dinner time days before. She'd hidden the knife well, because Marsha hadn't found it when they drugged her to put her into the trunk of the car. She'd travelled quietly for the longest time, knowing that sooner or later Lines would want to see her and open the trunk. She would be ready when he did.

Lines had been as good as his word. After about an hour or so he had returned alone and opened the trunk. She waited quietly whilst he untied her ankles and wrists. Keeping her wrists in her lap, she had reached into the small pocket she had cut in the inside of her shorts and pulled out the knife. Knowing that this was her only chance she stabbed wildly at his face, missing completely but striking him hard enough in the shoulder to send him flailing backwards. Suddenly panic set in. As she scampered out of the trunk, she saw not a soul around. These were experts at kidnap and would stop at nothing to ensure they caught up with her. And so she did what she thought was the safest thing. The thing that she had focussed on for the last month or so every time he came near her. Every time Marsha beat her. She scrambled up the first set of metal steps and flung herself into the water. A place they would not follow.

She emerged just over twenty minutes later, looking immaculate as promised. Mulder was waiting impatiently, keys in hand, by the front door. "Wow." He only noticed her as she reached the bottom of the stairs. "Now I wish we were having our own party here." He did nothing to stifle the leer that he had perfected over the last eight or so years.

"Yeah Mulder, because that's the excuse you want to give to my brother that we were late." She opened the front door.

"It's only Charlie, he'd understand. Come on you've seen the skirt his son follows around. I'm, betting Charlie is a very tolerant man." He smiled, following her out.

As they got in the car, Scully produced a disc and placed It on the dash board in front of Mulder. "What's this?" He asked, taking it between his fingers.

"It's my last session with Werber. You can listen to it when you want." She said, not quite meeting his eye but sounding committed to her decision. He looked at her for a moment, nodding slowly. He knew what this meant, what it took for her to offer him this. He placed the disc in the back seat, before leaning toward her.

"Tomorrow." He said. "Maybe we can listen to it together, to mark the end of all this."

She nodded quickly, feeling suddenly sad. "What?" He asked, concerned he was the cause of this emotional rush. She shook her head, indicating that it wasn't him.

"I love you." She said, carefully wiping stray tears from under her eyes. It was nothing new for her to say this, but in this context, it meant everything to him. So much, in fact, that it struck him for a moment, straight in the gut. In this context it meant, thank you. It meant I can't be without you. It meant together we're stronger. He needn't voice these things out loud now, it was enough that she knew them herself.

"Back atcha." He tried to lighten the moment. She let out a half laugh and nodded reached over and gently took her arm that was raised as she wiped away the moisture. "Let's go Scully. Let's start the next part…"

NOTE – thanks to all the excellent feedback and sorry if i haven't replied. I also apologise for the time its taken for me to get the last few chapters out. xxxxxxxx 


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